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Volume 54, Number 251
830.303.3335
T h e Vo i c e of Seguin To d a y
830-379-2234
Seniors targeted with phone, computer scam
you have any questions, call your IT support person and get them to scan your computer, but never ever let anybody on your computer until you can verify exactly, 100 percent, who they are," said Bryant.
By Darren Dunn
(Seguin) -- Another computer scam is apparently making the rounds. Like so many others, this one again targets senior citizens. Edison Bryant, of Bryant PC Solutions in New Braunfels, says they are hearing about more and more of these types of scams. Bryant says the latest scam involves scammers who are calling up people directly, hoping that they can talk the person into giving them remote access to the person's computer. "Folks are getthing this call. They are targeting mostly seniors, but anybody can be a victim of it. They call and they say they are with Microsoft or some other company that is going out of business, and they need to refund your money, but in order for them to refund your money, they have to get on your computer -which should raise a red flag, but some folks don't know. They let them get on their computer, and then they get you to log onto your bank site, and then they ake a picture (screenshot) of your statement, they manipulate it on their side, and download a copy of that picture with a fake refund (shown). So they end up saying 'oh, we meant to refund you $200, but we accidentally refunded you $2,000 -- please return $1,800 to us in gift cards.' And, (of course), they've never put any money in your bank. All they did was get you to
Bryant says his company periodically tries to warn people about the latest scams that are out there. He says people need to remain vigilant, because these scammers are always out there lurking, and looking for a way to access your computer, or your personal information.
withdraw $1,800 and send it to them. It's a real scam. To be quite frank, if someboy calls you and says 'we're with Microsoft' -- I'm sorry. I'm not that important. You're not that important. Microsoft is not going to call us for $200," said Bryant. Bryant says these calls often
sound too good to be true. He says that's because the claims are totally bogus, and these are people who are looking to take advantage of people who might not be completely tech savy. Bryant says that we should all remember that if it doesn't sound right, immediately dis-
connect the call. "If somebody calls you, the best thing that you can do is just hang up. It runs along the same scam lines of 'we're with the IRS and we are going to come get you,' or I got a call the other day that said my social security number was going to be canceled. So if you get these calls, just hang up. If
"It's a scam of volume. These folks are working 24/7. They are (largely) from other parts of the world. So they are working 24/7 and they are making one thousand calls per day. If they get one person to bite and they get $1,800 out of that person, that's a pretty good day if you're living somewhere not in the US. Even in the United States, 1,800 bucks a day would be a pretty good scam if you could do it. That's how they are doing it. They are doing it in total volume. The same thing with email scams. They send out tens-of-thousands of these things, and if they get one person to click on it and get a ransom out of them, that's how they do it. So (again) if you get a call and someone wants to get on your computer -- that you did not initiate the call -- just hang up. If they call back, just keeping hanging up on them," said Bryant. See SCAM, page 2