KAWARTHA LAKES-A Lindsay man was defrauded of $4000 after his home computer was “hacked”.
Police say the man attended the City of Kawartha Lakes Police Service on May 21 to report the incident.
Earlier that same day, the victim was using his home computer when the screen went blank and a message appeared stating that the computer had been “hacked” and was now infected with a computer virus. According to police a link appeared on the computer screen which informed the victim he could obtain assistance from a Microsoft computer technician. The victim clicked on the link and was put in contact with a person who claimed to work for Microsoft. The victim was allegedly informed that his computer could be fixed remotely, and that he could pay for the service by using Google Play gift cards. Over the course of the day, the victim purchased a total of $4000 in Google Play cards, and supplied the gift card numbers to the person posing as a Microsoft employee. Once the individual gift card numbers were supplied, the fraudster was able to transfer the balance on the gift cards for his own personal use.
The City of Kawartha Lakes Police Service is reminding the community to be suspicious of “pop up” messages that appear on a computer or other electronic device. Think twice before agreeing to pay for a service using store bought gift cards.
If you believe you have been victimized by a fraud, do not be embarrassed. Please contact your local police service immediately, as well as your bank and credit card companies and report the incident.
