WESTLAKE, Ohio — As you’re getting ready for the holiday, cybersecurity expert, Alex Hamerstone, suggests setting time aside to speak with your family about the risk of being scammed.
“I really think we’re at the point now where people need to not do anything at the result of a phone call,” said Hamerstone, an Advisory Solutions Director at TrustedSec.
This suggestion comes after Captain Jerry Vogel said two Westlake senior adults have now lost thousands of dollars all because they’re being tricked to deposit their money into crypto ATM machine.
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Vogel said the most recent incident involved an 85-year-old Westlake man, who received an unexpected pop-up on his computer that said his device and bank accounts were hacked.
“It said to call a number provided on this pop-up to get a hold of Microsoft support, so he did as instructed and contacted the number as it was given him on the pop-up and of course that connects him right to the scammers,” said Vogel.
Vogel said the man was told he was missing $40,000 from his bank account, so scammers convinced the man they could get it back through a process called “duplicate charges,” which led the Westlake man to take cash out of his bank and deposit it into a crypto ATM machine.
“He went to two different crypto ATM (machines) in Parma and unfortunately put the $20,000 into the machine and put it into the scammer’s wallet,” said Vogel.
Westlake Police said they’ve filed reports to try and help these people with recovery efforts.
“Getting this into people’s heads hopefully over and over is a great way for people to be educated,” said Vogel.
Meanwhile, Hamerstone urges people to be careful.
“I just think people need to be especially vigilant around the holidays. The scammers are out in force,” said Hamerstone.
