Be Watchful of Utility or other service folks

[brin]

One day last week our modem to connect to our DSL went out so I called our DSL provider for the internet which is our local phone company. A service man came out and when he came into the house he had a box and I noticed he had a number of DVDs or CDs in his hand under the box. I stayed right with him as I always do with any repair person in our home...he installed the new router / modem....took about an hour and he made several trips back out to his truck. When he finally left, I watched and he left the DVDs behind...I said nothing, although I almost did but by that time I had a bad feeling, so I said nothing. When he first had walked in with them I thought maybe he needed them to analyze our problem since I knew their was no installation disk when I installed the first one.

I checked the DVDs ...guess what ...? They are all blank which leaves me to suspect he was going to either copy software or confidential banking info, passwords...who knows ? Can anyone think of any logical reason he would bring blank DVDs in ..& not use them. I feel like he left them so as not to arouse my suspicion if he picked them up..you would have had to be there. I am assuming he thought I would just show him where the main computer was and walk away...So be suspicious and be careful who you trust.

 

[two_bit_score]

Sounds suspicious. Did you call the company?

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

Sounds suspicious. Did you call the company?

Agree, Ask them if it is common practice to do this, and if so,why?
If you don't get a satisfactory answer, I,d contact the police, and even if they are hesitant to file a complaint, ask them to fill out a report, that way it's on file, for the next time.

 

[jayste]

Yes! I'd follow up on this with the company!:thumbsup:

 

[Big Bri]

I'm in a small town and have a local phone company, well one of the service guys went to a house to fix an internet problem. while there he was looking at files on the owners computer and emailed him self some "private" pic that were on the computer. The owner found out when he noticed new "sent" emails. Long story short the tech got fired, sued and so did the the phone company. There are some creeps in this world. . . got to watch out for them.
here is a link if ya want to read
Brian
2theadvocate.com | News | Eatel, worker sued by couple — Baton Rouge, LA

 

[RonMar]

There is a reason they call them strangers...

Yes, most definitely call the company and inquire. I could see a tech bringing in a setup disc or two to reload drivers for a modem, which would be labeled to their contents, but not a handfull of blank disks...

 

[texasjohn]

No reason for blank disks.... maybe some with tools already on them..I do this from time to time when visiting some friend who is having problems...can't always guarantee that they will have the tools I like to use already on their computer.

There is something not right here... your instincts are likely very accurate here... but what to do is another matter... likely about all you can do is report your observations and suspicions in writing to his company management... I'd go several levels up the chain... if you go directly to his supervisor, risk is that he will be able to determine where the complaint came from, might be vengeful, you never know.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Also just so you know when you take your computer in for service take out the hard drive and let them fix the hardware without your drive - it can be done I do it all the time.

If they act dumb then buy a Small drive just big enough for the operating system and have that in when you get it serviced. NEVER EVER let your drive out of your site.

Another thing always make sure your connections are secure when traveling.

I went to Disneyland last year and when I fired up my laptop six other people popped up on my desktop network. For confirmation I wanted to see if I could get into their drives via the Disney network, sure enough I had no problem looking around their drives. What id I was a bad guy? As I saw the system was open I now only have program software on my laptop and and files and pics are all on a external drive never connected when on line in a hotel room.

So beware when using wifi.

 

[jinjimbob]

I think you are jumping the gun here.

Techs for computers always have blank disks, you never when you'll need them. Who knows how many people ask them, "while you here, can you do this or that"

 

[bstrom]

Innocent until proven guilty. I would have just ask him what the CD's are for and he would have told you. I worked field service type jobs for years. You never know what you are going to run into so you always bring more than you need even if you are just swapping a modem and configuring some software. People are always suspicious of you too which really sucks.

That said if someone is working on your personal computer I would probably stay in the room with them. There is just to much personal info in there. Usually phone/utility company people are ok though and it's easy enough to find out who they are. There are records of who is dispatched to where which managers and supervisors can access.