YORK COUNTY, SC – A scammers swindle two York county people out of more than $53,000. The fraudsters posed as computer tech-support, local bank representatives and a US Marshals Service agent. The YCSO is investigating two separate fraud cases that took place on Dec. 1st and 2nd.
The first scam began on Dec. 1st when the victim received a pop-up message on their computer from Microsoft stating the computer had been hacked and needed to call a specific number to unlock the computer. A person on the phone posing as a computer technician told the 90-year-old victim his banking information was compromised and needed his bank account information to secure his account.
The victim received a form with a local federal credit union letter head stating as he needed to send $38,000 of dollars to a Customer Care Representative by the name 'Lisa Fernandes' to secure their account and keep his money safe. The victim was told to withdraw the money and send it to an address in Douglasville, Georgia via UPS.
The second separate scam incident took place on Dec. 2nd when a scammer by the name ‘Michael Moore’ said he was a representative from Amazon. The scammer told the 85-year-old victim several fraudulent purchases were made on her Amazon account. ‘Michael’ then transferred the victim to a ‘Thomas Chapman’ who claimed he was with the United States Marshal Service. Thomas said he was going to make sure the victim’s money is safe from further scams. The scammers asked the victim to withdraw $15,000 from her bank and ship the cash via UPS to an address in Monterey Park, California.
How to spot tech-support and customer support scams:
- Never give someone your personal information or access to your computer.
- Legitimate technology companies won’t contact you by phone, email, or text message to tell you there’s a problem with your computer.
- Security pop-up warnings from real tech companies will never ask you to call a phone number or click on a link.
- Never send cash, checks or pre-paid cards or via postal or shipping services.
You can report any scam attempts to the York County Sheriff’s Office at 803-628-3059.