Two Rochester residents fall prey to unrelated scams
Dec. 3—The Rochester Police Department is reminding people to be cautious of clicking links and making sure to use due diligence on the internet after two women fell prey to unrelated scams recently.
A 19-year-old woman reported that she received an email on Nov. 29 from what she believed was Apple Service about a purchase of a game on the app store. The woman had not made the purchase and clicked on a link within the email to cancel the order.
The link directed her to provide her Social Security number, bank account and debit and credit card information as well as her iCloud login. It was only after entering all her personal details that the woman realized she had fallen victim to a scam, according to Rochester police Capt. Casey Moilanen.
The following day, the woman's father reported receiving a text message from her with a link to a download. The woman had not sent the text message.
The woman also began receiving notifications that purchase attempts were being made on her accounts, which she had blocked after realizing the scam.
Tech help scam
A 69-year-old woman reported to police that she was duped out of $1,000 after trying to get help installing a wireless keyboard.
The woman told police she was working to connect a keyboard to her mother's iPad and had contacted to what she thought was Geek Squad. The woman found the phone number via Google. A person on the other end of the line told her a Geek Squad technician would call her back in a couple of minutes.
When that call came, the man told her she needed to purchase software for $50 but to do so, had to transfer the man $500 first due to "daily banking law" and that he would reimburse her the remaining $450 through a specific app.
The woman ended up transferring $1,000 before realizing it was a scam.
