AKRON, Ohio — Criminals are focusing on Northeast Ohio and trying to take your hard-earned money. A senior citizen from Wadsworth just found that out the hard way, to the tune of thousands of dollars, but she isn’t the only one in the crosshairs.
The 84-year-old woman was just searching the internet one day.
“I believe she was browsing for new recipes to try out,” said Director of Marketing at Akron BBB Devan Weckerly Lambert.
Criminals cooked up a scam that popped up a message on the Wadsworth woman’s computer screen. It was a warning, supposedly from Microsoft.
“Her computer was compromised, that she had illicit materials on her device and that she needed to call right away,” Weckerly Lambert said.
The next layer was when the crooks said they were transferring her to her bank. They convinced the woman to hand over $10,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
“Once she deposited the money, realized what was happening the scammers disconnected the call and then never contacted her and they’ve been unreachable ever since,” Weckerly Lambert said.
The BBB said its 2024 risk report shows Microsoft is in the top 10 of most impersonated organizations.
Akron Police told us these kinds of scams are really hitting the area right now, not only targeting individuals but businesses as well, after one of them got hit big time recently.
“Where thousands upon thousands of dollars have been transferred out to other individuals,” said Lt. Michael Murphy.
He told us you should watch out for the way they want you to pay. “[No legitimate business] is going to require you to purchase a gift card or to send money through Bitcoin or any type of cryptocurrency in order to make a payment,” he said.
The BBB told us the best plan if you get a pop-up or threatening text or email is to take a breath, don’t call the number in the message, look up real contact info of the business and verify the concern. Or you can call a trusted family member or friend.
The woman in Wadsworth and her niece wished she had done that after finding a recipe for losing money to imposters. “They are so adamant about getting the word out, letting people know that this is still occurring,” Weckerly Lambert said.
