Scam

I was the victim of an Internet scam yesterday.  Not a huge one, but it cost me £40 and I gave a lot of my personal details to the company that runs it. The money isn't that important, the damage to my pride may take a while to heal.

I would describe myself as being very Internet savvy. I used to work in IT and continue to keep an eye on what is going on as an enthusiastic amateur. And when it comes to IT my maxim is "don't trust it". I'm almost anal about taking back-ups, protecting passwords and sharing personal information.  So it was completely out of character that when I Googled "passport renewal" I jumped straight into the site at the top of the list and gave them all my details.

The site looked official, the link on Google said they were official, but it was a scam.  Perfectly legal, but in my eyes and that of the Guardian, a scam. This company (I won't name them, they might have super-intelligent spambots ready to strike), takes all your details and fills your passport application form in for you. They then charge you £40 and send the completed form for you to send on to the Passport Office.  That's it. £40 for filling a form in that a child of 6 could complete for free in 10 minutes on the UK Passport Agency's website.

I've thought about this since it happened and not only am I disappointed in myself, I'm disappointed in Google.  The link I clicked on came through AdWords, a Google service which allows companies to ensure their links are at the top of any relevant Google search. I suppose I trusted Google (although I can't understand why) and expected that they would weed out these sorts of scams before they hit the unsuspecting surfer. 

Anyway, it won't happen again.  And it feels better to have got it off my chest. Thanks for being there.