PERTH COUNTY – The Perth County OPP are once again reminding residents to never allow remote access to your computer following a pair of fraud investigations in Perth County.
On June 27, around 7:15 p.m., Perth County OPP were contacted by a 67-year-old North Perth resident, who reported they were the victim of a computer scam.
Police say the victim was browsing on the internet, and an alert popped up on their screen stating they had been scammed, and to contact the number provided to resolve the issue. The victim called the number and was instructed to withdraw cash from the bank, then purchase as many Apple gift cards as possible.
According to police, the victim obliged, purchased the cards and returned home. After calling the number back, the victim provided all the gift card numbers to two unknown men.
Police say the victim in this case lost more than $6,900.
A second reported Apple gift card scam occurred in Perth East on July 12.
Around 6:30 p.m. that day, an elderly female resident contacted police, reporting they had been the victim of the Microsoft computer scam.
According to police, the resident was contacted by someone claiming to represent Microsoft, stating the victim had fraudulent charges made by their computer. The victim sent $4,000 worth of Apple gift cards to an unknown male to remove the charges.
Police are urging everyone that owns a computer to be very skeptical if you receive a phone call or pop-up message indicating that there are issues with any of your accounts or computer.
“Please do not allow anyone access to your computer and do not call any number that is provided. Hang up the phone, it’s a scam!”
Police are also providing the following reminders:
- unless you initiate the call, do not allow anyone access to your computer; and
- do not give out personal, banking or credit card information to anyone, unless you are sure of whom you are dealing with.
For more information on fraud, call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or http://www.antifraudcentre.ca.
