An increase of scams over the past few months has prompted a warning from a Rimbey business.
According to Rimbey TV’s Computer Tech Madison Mitchell several visits a week regarding scams are becoming commonplace.
“We see probably one to three times a week somebody coming in because something happened,” she said.
Mitchell said common scams she has seen are false invoice scams.
“People will get an invoice in their email from Norton or a Mastercard or something that they’re not subscribed to, and it will be for a large amount,” she said, adding that it’s an amount that they are shocked to have to pay.
People will then call the number, while the scammer will apologize, saying they will refund them. They then want to get into your computer, which requires the person to download remote access software.
“What they do is they transfer you money and then say, ‘oh whoops,’ so they put an extra couple of zeros on it, and they’re like, ‘oh whoops, we hit that, we have to transfer that back,’ and then they’re taking your money back with it,” said Mitchell.
The scammers seem to be getting their money through e-transfers.
“It’s anybody and everybody,” said Mitchell when it comes to the demographic of those falling victim to the scams.
She said if people are unsure about an email or phone call they should visit the Norton website or whoever sent the scam, and email support if they have any questions about the invoice they received, rather than following a link or phone number.
Mitchell said she has seen lots of anti-virus scams too.
“I think the biggest advice is if you didn’t imitate it don’t click on it, don’t call anybody.”