A Balgownie senior citizen lost more than $600 in the latest scam to hit the Illawarra.
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NSW Fair Trading Minister Rod Stowe said this scam involved a person calling and pretending to be from Microsoft.
It follows on from recent phone scams where people have received calls from someone claiming to be the Australian Tax Office threatening a tax evasion lawsuit or a Telstra technician saying they needed urgent access to the person’s computer hard drive.
In this latest scam, the 83-year-old Balgownie man responded to an offer of a free download of Windows 10 on Thursday.
Several hours later he got a call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft telling him there was something very wrong with his computer.
The person then said they could offer a guarantee against ongoing repair costs for a fee of several hundred dollars.
The man logged on and found error messages on his computer. But, unbeknownst to him, the scammer had already gained access to his computer and planted those error messages.
After the scammer provided the man’s full name, email address and street address, the senior citizen gave his bank account details.
Two withdrawals of more than $600 were made, one on Thursday evening and a second on Friday morning.
Later on Friday morning the man heard news reports of the Telstra technician scam and contacted his bank, who told him the payments had gone to a business called Khetan Management Services.
Mr Stowe said scammers look for vulnerabilities, are ruthless in their pursuit of victims and have no moral compass whatsoever.
“I urge everyone to share this warning, with family members, friends and neighbours and within communities because we continue to see victims being robbed of their money and their dignity,” Mr Stowe said.