‘Geek Squad’ claim scams woman out of $3K
The Troy Police Department is reporting another multi-thousand dollar scam against a resident, and this time it happened to a Troy woman who lost $3,000 to someone fraudulently claiming to be from Best Buy’s Geek Squad billing her for a computer repair.
According to police, the woman said she got an email on Feb. 26 about an issue with her computer, and when she contacted the number provided she was instructed to pay for the $499.09 repair with gift cards. After doing so, she was told there was a mistake and that the repairs would cost $7,499.09 and to purchase more gift cards, police said.
The woman reportedly bought more cards until reaching her $3,000 credit limit. She then went to her bank to request an increase in her credit, police said, and was told by a bank employee that she
was being scammed.
Area police departments continue to investigate frauds such as this one, and remind residents that legitimate businesses, police and the IRS don’t accept gift cards or prepaid debit cards as payment. Among the more recent cases — a Rochester resident was reportedly scammed out of $2,500 recently by someone falsely claiming to be a Comcast technician. In another case, a bogus email reportedly prompted a Troy business employee to send a $192,530 check overnight as payment to a debt collector.
A recent social media post from the Troy Police Department states:” Please take the time to educate your loved ones. We continue to see these scammers target the vulnerable in our community, often costing them hundreds or thousands of dollars...Scammers prey on the vulnerable in our community. They are very convincing and often target the elderly or those new to our country who may be unfamiliar with local law enforcement. While in hindsight it may be easy to blame the victims, these scammers are very successful at targeting people. Please help stop them by taking this post as a reminder to talk to a loved one in your life that might be vulnerable.”