A Joshua Tree woman is out $18,000 after falling victim to a Microsoft phone scam. According to Sheriff’s reports, the woman was contacted by a scammer claiming to be from Microsoft saying that her computer had been hacked and that scammers were attempting to steal $7,000 from her account. The scammer told the victim that if she did not pay to resolve the problem within 10 minutes, the scammers would steal all of her money and that her computer would shut down permanently. The scammers then directed the woman to a fake US Bank representative who instructed her to purchase $18,000 in gift cards and provide the numbers to them. The woman didn’t realized it was a scam until after visiting her bank in person. Reporter Cassidy Taylor has tips on how to recognize and avoid this type of scam…
The thought of losing the extremely personal photos, videos, and documents on your computer can put some people in a state of panic. Scammers create, then prey, on this feeling, primarily with the elderly, to trick them into giving away their hard-earned money. Remember, Microsoft will only contact users via official email, never by phone. Microsoft does not have the ability to permanently disable your computer remotely; they will never offer to connect you directly to your bank; nor will they or any bank require any payments in the form of gift cards or cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin). If you receive a phone call from Microsoft reporting a problem, hang up immediately and log into your account directly to verify.
