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On Tue, 01 Apr 2014 10:43:13 +0100, Julian Hall <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> >I don't think you can equate a deliberate criminal fraud with a bit of >pre-installed software. You may think it's a victimless crime and/or >it's a small amount of money but that ignores the emotional cost to >the victim. Just after my Dad died my Mum was deliberately lied to by >the salesman of one of the energy companies - I know it was deliberate >because when I subsequently called them he 'no longer worked for them' >- and as a result of believing the lies Mum lost all confidence in her >ability to deal with people like that and it took a long time to >rebuild it. I know for a /certainty/ that if she had fallen for a con >like this the effect would have been similar, and she is not alone in >that. How many hundreds, or thousands will this scammer have affected >in this way? > Well, I am sorry for your mum and the people like her that fall for these scams. The best solution would be if the government just outlawed cold calling completely or failing that ran a bunch of TV ads targeted at the olds telling them never to buy anything from people who call or email you out of the blue. My perspective is just that on the grand scheme of things it isn't that big a deal. I cycle a fair bit and am very sensitised to the lenient sentences bad drivers are given. A "careless" woman killed an old guy on a bike last year outside the Grand Hotel in Torquay. All she got for that was a 2 year driving ban and a £400 fine. I would just rather my taxes went to things like keeping these people permanently off the road rather than prosecuting this MS guy. I have a business and despite registering with the TPS and business versions I get ~5 calls a day from scammers. There is no easy way to stop scam call and emails. A bit like the porn filters thread all we can do is educate the likely victims. If way less people fell for these scams then the criminals would give up as the returns wouldn't be worth it. Kevin -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq