Pennsylvania State Police are warning residents to be wary of a scam where the scammers pretend to be from Microsoft, after receiving a report of the scam from a 74 year old woman in Mercer.

Scammers reach potential victims through email pretending to be from "the security department at Microsoft," advising the recipient to call an attached phone number.

Once on the phone with the victim, the scammers say that the victim has been found accessing illegal websites and will be turned in to the FBI. They also inform the victim that their system and bank account have been infected with a "tiny banker trojan." 

Then, scammers place a second call to the victim masked to come from their bank, wherein they try to convince victims to send funds through an illicit website to resolve a banking issue.

Scams have been shown to primarily target the elderly or otherwise vulnerable. If you know anyone who may be susceptible to scams, please try to keep them informed on how to spot fake emails, links, and other potential scams.