By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE — A 70-year-old woman said Feb. 8 that a Feb. 5 pop-up screen on her computer warned her that her system had been hacked, and when she called the toll-free number to fix the problem, a man with an Indian accent advised her to purchase $15,000 in gift cards from a mall to pay for the fix.
The woman said she was able to obtain $11,000 in gift cards, and she provided the man with the gift card numbers and codes.
She said the man then told her to go to the bank, withdraw $20,000, and mail it to a California address, packed in a shoebox lined with tinfoil. However, after discussing the situation with her husband, she decided not to send the money, and to file a police report instead.
A police officer explained to the woman that she had been the victim of a scam, and they recommended she change all of her bank account numbers, and to have her computer cleared of any malware.