Another SPAM sting

My latest SPAM message has just arrived. It’s from +44 7544 3043, and reads “We have been trying to contact you regarding your accident, we now know how much you are owed. Visit www.myclaimuk.info to confirm a time for us to call you.”

Hmmm, how gullible am I? Should I respond to this text? Or should I wait until I’m advised that these cowboys actually “have” the money that is due to me and that all I now need to do is send them my banking details so that they can deposit it in my account?

The trouble is, I’m torn between wanting these cowboys caught, and money being spent on other public services, too. And I know that the public purse is not big enough to meet all of my needs, or the needs of everyone in this country. There aren’t enough enforcers to go around.
In usual times, I would use this blog as an opportunity to get on my soapbox to cry for more resources for investigators. But, these are not usual times. Next week I’ll be travelling back through London Heathrow after a working trip to Berlin. The flight arrives around 8pm and I really want to have cleared the UK Border Control desks in Terminal 5 by 11.30pm. Why? Because I want to take the underground home, and I don’t fancy having to pay a huge taxi bill – which is what will happen if the queues really are as awful as some have claimed.

Spookily enough, I was chatting about the Border Control delays with some American chums who had popped over to London for the International Association of Privacy Professionals conference last week. Their queues exceeded 90 minutes, apparently. I was only joking when I explained that I was happy for the delays to be so long, as it was a covert way of helping tire some of the visiting athletes out before they compete in the summer Olympics, which will be taking place over in East London. I want our country to give our athletes as much help as it can, and in as many ways as it can.

But that was before I realised how those same delays would affect me, too.

So, today’s special pleading is for emergency additional resources for those who staff the Border control desks at Heathrow.

After next week, it’s possible that my normal pleading will have resumed, and that I’ll be caring more about the plight of data protection victims, rather than weary travellers.


.