What do you know about scammers?
Scams and infected emails, texts and calls happen daily with the purpose to steal our sensitive information. Worst of all, there are many cases of extortion on the web.
Some scammers will lock your device from the inside through a virus or malware, and demand money to let you have your device back! It is rare that once you pay they will let you have it back, and it becomes a huge issue.
Today I want to share another cyber fairytale! This one is about the town of Hamelin and the Pied Piper Scammer. It is a cautionary tale, but important to learn if you want to be protected online.
Hamelin and the Pied Piper Scammer Story
This story starts in a little town called Hamelin, where no complaints were heard, and it was quiet and calm. Parents and kids alike would click clack on their keyboards all day, play on tablets, and check their phones, unaware of what was happening around them. Until one fateful day, all of that changed!
Bugs!
They crawled in the servers and laid tricks,
To stop their browsers from letting them click,
Stealing their data, making them tick,
There arose arguing and mighty conflict,
As the bugs broke the tech of Hamelin quick.
Everyone was TERRIFIED. They didn’t know what to do to get rid of these bugs. They cried and yelled, argued, and lamented. After a week of this chaos, someone spoke up and said they received an email message with information on how they could fix this virus problem.
“Why, I’m the Pied Piper, of course,” it read,
“I’ve heard of the troubles you’ve led,
Those bugs are the worst! But there’s no need to dread,
For a price, I can fix them, with not a tear shed,”
The Piper told the adults of Hamelin on the web.
The adults were so happy! They rejoiced that they could get their technology back so soon, and quickly paid the Pied Piper scammer the huge sum of money he requested. However, what they didn’t know was that the Piper had sent the bugs in the first place to their devices – and now he was tricking them to pay their money so he could “fix” it. The Pied Piper kept demanding more and more money, but the town of Hamelin had given almost everything!
The people said, “What can we do?
Our lives are ruined, we are through!”
Without means to work, it was true,
Computers, phones, tablets, they had to get new,
And change Hamelin’s web habits too.
After getting new technology for the whole town, Hamelin learned a valuable lesson. The adults installed firewalls, and safety software, and taught their children to be mindful. All the kids in the town learned that being on a device isn’t everything, and finally listened to their parents when they told them to put their tablets away.
And they all lived Happily Ever Cyber!
While the town of Hamelin had to start from scratch on their cyber journey, you don’t have to take such drastic action if you start to protect your devices NOW! Let’s start taking the steps to secure your cyber world, and remember that I am on this journey with you.
How do you protect yourself from extortion?
You may also like to read :- Uncovering the Different Types of Scams and How to Protect Yourself Online
