A trio of unrelated computer scams was reported to Sunshine Coast RCMP last week.
On April 4, a Sunshine Coast resident reported an attempted scam after receiving an email from someone purporting to be from Asia, and to please excuse their poor grammar.
The email went on to say that they had infected the resident’s computer with malicious software and that they’d gone through the contents of her video and located a very personal video of the resident. The scammer then said that unless the resident sent them around $500 in foreign funds, the video would be sent to all of the resident’s social contacts.
Police say this kind of “phishing” scam is very common.
On April 5, a Sunshine Coast resident reported a very convincing fraudulent email she received that appeared to be from the billing department of her telecommunications service provider.
The email stated that they were unable to process her last bill payment due to one of several reasons and to ensure her service wasn’t interrupted, she needed to confirm her billing information immediately. The resident clicked on a link provided in the email, which took her to a screen where she entered her credit card and other information to “repay” the “outstanding” bill.
The resident then received a phone call from her credit card company advising her that a fraudulent transaction had occurred on her account and her credit card was cancelled. The resident was advised to contact her bank as well as Transunion and Equifax to flag her account.
Police advise anyone who receives communications like this from any company they deal with to contact the company directly to confirm the legitimacy of the communication.
On April 6, a Coast resident reported falling for a common computer scam after she responded to an alarming message that showed up on her computer while she was surfing the Internet. The message advised that a virus had been detected on her computer and that she needed to contact the provided telephone number immediately to get the virus removed.
After trying unsuccessfully to shut down her computer, and failing to reach her local computer tech, the resident called the number on her screen and was connected to someone purporting to be with a tech company out of Las Vegas. The “tech” told the resident that there were a lot of viruses on her computer and talked her into paying for a three-year computer protection contract (in U.S. dollars).
The resident provided her credit card info to the “tech” but afterwards talked to her local computer tech and learned she’d been scammed. The resident cancelled her credit card before the charge went through and is having her computer checked locally for any malicious software that may have been installed.
To learn more about this and other popular scams, visit sites such as the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website at www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca or the Better Business Bureau at www.bbb.org.
– Sunshine Coast RCMP
