Yesterday afternoon I was approached by a beggar asking me for forty pence. Forty pence? What was that all about? Had he suggested such a teeny amount in the hopes that I would naturally give him more? Approaches such as is leave me so disturbed – my mind conflicted by strong emotions. Resentment at his intrusion on my privacy and guilt that I am not helping him. Then there is a third reaction: is he a scammer? Or is he genuinely down on his luck? Confidence tricksters are so plausible and very, very convincing.

The first time I recall being approached by a confidence trickster was when I was still at school. Walking through the town after parking my parents’ car I was approached by another schoolgirl who, apparently, needed the bus fare to get home. As her story unfolded I remember rapidly trying to calculate whether I should give her a lift myself while at the same time some sixth sense was warning me to be wary. As it happened she overdid her tale of woe and caution won. I told her to “get lost”.

Then there are the itinerant scoundrels who persuade householders to part with thousands of pounds for shoddy building work after fooling them into believing that the building repairs were urgent. This nearly happened to me. A few years back someone rang the front door bell to inform me that my chimneystack needed re-pointing. “Good afternoon, madam. I was working on a roof across   the road when I noticed that there is a problem with your chimneystack. I have my ladders here so I can fix it for you before the next rain.” My first reaction was panic: how am I going to afford it? What else is wrong? Then suspicion clicked in, along with a vague memory of warnings about such scams. “Oh! Thank you, “I replied. “I will inform my builder and he will repair it.” This did not please the trickster and he started to bluster his way through more dire warnings about what would happen if I did not engage his services immediately so I shut the door on him.

The opportunities for working a scam have increased exponentially with the introduction of telephones and computers into almost every home. On Tuesday I met Christine, such a lovely sensible lady who was taken in by a scammer. Her phone rang at eight in the morning, catching her at a bad time because she was in a hurry to get to work. The caller told her that he was from BT and that her computer had been hacked. Convinced, she followed his instructions to go online and give him access to her system. She even gave him her credit card details to pay for the “repair”. Fortunately for her, her card details were rejected so the caller then demanded another card. On learning that she did I not have any other cards the caller suggested that she pay by cash. And that is the moment when her brain switched on and she hung up. The police instructed her to cancel her credit card and took her laptop away to remove the virus that had been planted.

Then there are so many ‘scam’ emails. It is so easy to be caught. The first time I received an email from “a friend”  who was on holiday and had been mugged and needed me to send cash so that she could get home my first reaction was one of shock. Then suspicion: she was not my friend- she was a mere acquaintance. And why had she not phoned? And what was the British Embassy doing to help? Definitely a scam.

I have discovered that if I click on the apparent sender’s email address I can see the actual sender underneath. So last month I received a notification from “Google Support” informing me that “4 broken message had been found and recovered” and requesting that I click on the link. But I do not use Google to send messages so I right clicked on the sender to find underneath the word “support” were the words   harmona@okoha.com. A scammer!

A combination of curiosity and carelessness allows us to be scammed. I do try to remain vigilant. It is such a pity that to in today’s World we have to be on our guard but it was ever thus. In my Mother’s day it was the confidence trickster at the door. In today’s technical world it is the scam emailer or telephone caller.

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