Warning

This morning I had a call from my daughter to tell me that £1200 had been illegally removed from her internet bank account. I was quite surprised that she was not more distraught, but apparently she had been told that the money will be recovered, although it will take two to three weeks.

Thank goodness, the bank picked it up and called to ask if she had made this unusually high transfer. I guess that was the moment when she did freak out, before she was assured that she would get it back. Of course, she cannot afford to lose it. It is all earmarked for payments in the next weeks and she has had to arrange an overdraft to cover it. So of course she will be charged for that.

The same thing happened to one of her friends recently, she told me. But a much smaller amount of money was involved.

She is now terrified of going on the internet for any reason and has arranged for someone to come in and check all her computor security stuff. Until then she will leave her computer alone and won’t complete the online self-evaluation form needed for the inspectors of the childminding business she runs in her home.

So be warned. There are some nasty people hacking into our computers these days. I’m now quite glad I use telephone banking for my current account, rather than putting it online.