Perth County OPP is warning of computer scams after two residents were bilked out of thousands of dollars.
In the first incident, an elderly Perth East resident was called by someone claiming to be from Microsoft. The victim was told she had fraudulent charges made by her computer. The victim sent $4,000 in Apple gift cards to an unknown man to remove the charges.
In the second incident, a 67-year-old North Perth resident was defrauded out of $6,900.
Police say the victim was browsing the internet when a pop-up appeared on the screen saying they had been scammed and to call the number to solve the issue. The victim called and was told to take money out of the bank and then buy as many Apple gift cards from as many different stores as possible. They then went home and gave all the gift card numbers to two men at the number they were told to call. The victim lost $6,900.
Police urge everyone that owns a computer to be very skeptical of anyone contacting you either by phone or by pop-up message saying there are issues with your accounts or computer. Police say do not give anyone access to your computer and don’t call any number provided. Police say, “Hang up the phone, it is a scam.”
