A Green River resident lost thousands of dollars to a scammer claiming to represent Microsoft.
According to the Green River Police reports, Officers responded to the report of a fraud shortly before 2 p.m. yesterday.
The reporting party told officers that they received a phone call from someone who claimed to represent Microsoft. The caller said there were problems that may be affecting the victim’s computer. The victim gave the caller access to their computer and paid for the service. The caller later contacted the victim again and said they overcharged the victim and needed their bank account number to deposit a refund. The reporting party provided the account number to the caller, who later told the victim that they accidentally refunded too much money. The victim was instructed to purchase prepaid debit cards and called the scammer back providing the card information to reimburse the alleged overpaid refund.
The victim reported a loss of about $5,000. The reporting party contacted their bank about the incident and was informed that someone unsuccessfully attempted to take additional money out of their account.
Officers completed a report about the incident.
The Green River Police Department is warning residents about providing personal or financial information. According to Microsoft’s website, they will not proactively reach out to customers for unsolicited PC or technical support. Any contact of this nature must be initiated by the customer.
