Lindsay senior a victim of ‘gift card’ fraud
The Kawartha Lakes Police Service is investigating after a 74-year-old female from Lindsay became a victim to a gift card scam.
The initial investigation has determined that on September 12 the victim received a “pop-up” on her computer claiming her computer had crashed and was directed to call a telephone number. She made contact with an individual who advised her computer had been hacked, if she did not attend the bank and withdraw cash, her bank account would be cleared out by scammers.
After withdrawing money from her account, the victim received a second call from scammer and was directed to purchase gift cards totaling $10,000. The victim attended multiple businesses in Lindsay purchasing $4500 in cards and provided the gift card numbers to the scammers. After being questioned about the purchases by a number of alert clerks, the victim reported the fraud.
There are a wide range of active frauds and scams, and the best way to protect yourself is with knowledge. Learn how to recognize when someone is trying to scam you, how to reject the attempt and where to report it.
I don’t understand why our Po;ice services or the PC MPP or the PC Federal MP has not has not provided alerts on this ongoing fraud and how to avoid it.
It is not uncommon to receive these fraudulent pop ups . I received two in the last month , the pop up will flash , a audio and video will say that your computer has been blocked and to call the above number to unlock it. At first glance it looks legitimate . Immediatelly kill your computer or shut it down normally, ( I prefer to kill it as it only takes a few seconds ).You can reboot immediatley and everything thing should be fine. The annoying thing is that you might keep getting pop ups on the right sidde. If the pop ups continue go to your notifications and delete them , you can reinstate notifications at a later date if you like.
I think that that the MP , MPP and Lindsy Police Services will want to give me a gratutity for this Public Service ? LOL