Two older adults in the east end of Toronto have lost more than $32,000 in a scam offering software protection for their computers. Durham regional police say the scammer contacted the victims and offered them several anti-virus options to purchase. Once they were bought, the programs were installed on their computers.
A few months later the scammer called back to say there was an issue with the software and the purchasers would be reimbursed. Then the victims were told they were overpaid and requested the difference be paid back.
Anti-virus was actually malware
What the victims did not know was that the anti-virus installed in their computers was malware which extracted all their information enabling the scammer to access their credit cards of lines of credit.
Police warn consumers to learn about the companies they want to do business with, to never provide personal information through the internet or email, to talk to someone knowledgeable about planned transactions, and to keep access codes, user IDs, passwords, and PINs secret.
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