I received a message from a reader that made me spitting mad!
“On Thursday, March 19,2020 I received an email /phone call by a man named Kevin from Virginia (she included a phone number he called from that I won’t mention) that he made a mistake on my computer when removing spam. . He said for me to pay him back 4 Gift Cards at $500 each a total of $2000 which I did.
He said to give him the numbers on and everything will be taken care of. I went to Best Buy here in Las Vegas and purchase them and gave them to him. He also said to go to Walmart and purchase the same. I didn’t do it. I should have talked to my son which I did the next day. He said it’s nothing but FRAUD. I’ve been trying to get my monies back from him. Every time I call him he doesn’t call me back. This has to be fraud. PLEASE GIVE ME BACK MY MONIES. I’m a Veterans Widow for almost 10 years. I’m having hard times.”
Guaranteed Scam
I’m so very sorry to hear that this happened to you. This is definitely a scam. I’ve very sorry to say that it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever get your money back. I did not include the phone numbers you provided because scammers use programs that conceal their actual phone numbers. Those numbers are probably just randomly generated.
No mistake that anyone made while removing spam from a computer could ever result in YOU owing him money. Never believe anyone who calls you out of the blue about any computer-related issue.
But the most important thing to take away from this is that any time someone tells you to pay them with gift cards, it is a SCAM!!!!
Gift Cards Are For Giving
Gift Cards are for giving as gifts, not for paying for anything. If someone wants a gift card, they want that transaction to be untraceable and non-refundable. I repeat – no matter what anyone tells you about anything, DO NOT BUY GIFT CARDS TO SEND THEM!!!
You should still report this scum to police. There might not be much they can do about it, but you never know. At least they can warn others.
I’m going to go over some hard truths that I want everyone who reads this to believe:
- Nobody calls you out of the blue about a problem with your computer. NEVER. If they do, hang the heck up. If they email you, delete the message.
2. NEVER, EVER pay with a gift card! Gift cards are for gift giving. You do not pay for services, you do not pay fines, you do not make bail… Whatever it is, you don’t pay for it with gift cards.
3. When in doubt, refer to 1 and 2! Okay. Promise me! And everybody reading this, make sure to warn your friends and family about scams like this.
A dear lady friend received the old one – your computer is locked and to get it unlocked you have to send $300.00 immediately. She actually sent a check. Fortunately she called me soon after, I told her to call her bank immediately explain she had been scammed and wanted to cancel the check. She was too ashamed to do it until I coaxed her into it. She’d just lost her beloved husband. This lady is very smart, but easily dupped. She’s computer smart too, so should have know better, but was taken unaware, as most elder folks would be. I’m glad I was able to coax her to have the check cancelled. Trish
I got suckered into the gift card scam. I reported it to the police and about 8 months later I got an email from the DA in New York that I was part of a lawsuit against the guy and he ended up going to jail. I did not get any money back but I learned my lesson: DON’T PAY FOR ANYTHING WITH GIFT CARDS!!!!!!
After reading the story from the veteran’s widow, 10 minutes later, literally, I received the following email which I copied and pasted the text only (no links were added) to this comment box. I wanted you and your readers to see just how blatant these criminals are. Their use of the English language and grammar are dead giveaways also. I am thankful that I trust no one when they send emails regarding services I never used.
This is the email I received.
deepa chawla
Thu, Sep 3, 4:25 AM (2 days ago)
to djalex, chchisolm1, me, leedchmus
Hi User,
You got this mail because our pc secure aid on your pc has been expired today.
Sir, We are thankful to you for using our aid from last 3 years, we hope you enjoyed our service. But today our aid on your pc has expired, Our department had tried too many times to contact you but we could not make any connection with you.
As today our service has expired it will auto-renew over your pc today with an amount of $489.37 with your bank account logged in with us for next 3 years
The invoice and new license key will be send on your email addeess with in 24 hours.
If you have any query or want cancel this producr reach our technical department toll free no given below.
Systemos technical dept.
+1(765)-365-8882