Watch out for heartless online scams
A CRIME alert has been issued after two Sefton residents lost more than £1,000 after experiencing a computer scam.
The scam came after both residents began to have problems with their computers and contacted their respective servers, with both then given help to correct the faults.
The following day, however, they both received a phone call from someone pretending to be from their individual servers, who stated that the problems experienced were due to a fault with their computers, not with the server.
Both residents were asked to turn on their computers so the problem could be rectified by the user on the phone.
The first resident reported that the caller took over her computer and, after various charts appeared on the screen, told her that the problem was solved and there would be a charge and asked her to pay online.
She did not have an online account, so the caller set up a PayPal account for her, and she ultimately lost £1,800.
The second resident also followed the caller’s instructions, before seeing his screen go black and a message appear saying that he would receive £200 compensation and they would arrange for an engineer to visit him to replace a faulty piece of equipment.
As he had no online account, they asked for details of his address so the money could be sent, but they couldn’t pay him by cheque. The resident became suspicious and ended the call, which lasted almost one hour.
Both residents contacted their respective servers about the incidents, and were informed they had received “scam calls”. Merseyside police have launched a crime alert following these incidents.
Sefton crime alert co-ordinator Margaret Jepson said: “Please be warned, if you call your server with a problem, be on the alert if, in the following days, you receive phone calls supposedly from your server.”
If you have experienced a similar incident, or know of someone who has, notify the police by calling 101.