Lawrence County man falls for $19,000 online tech support scam

Pennsylvania State Police are warning people of scams that involve messages that pop up on their computer screen claiming that their device is infected with malware, a virus, or illegal activity.  

A Lawrence County man who fell victim to an online technical support scam ended up being cheated out of nearly $19,000.

According to the report, a 67-year-old Hickory Township man saw a message that his computer had been infected with malware, which is software used to gain unauthorized access to IT systems to steal data, disrupt system services, or damage IT networks.

The message included a phone number which the victim called and was instructed to ship $15,000 in cash overnight to a San Diego, California address via FedEx., which included shipping costs of $233.

In total, the victim lost $18,832.53 in the scam.

According to police, such pop-ups often lock the computer, and the user is unable to do anything.

The pop-up includes a phone number for victims to call to resolve the issue and states that they are legitimate entities such as Microsoft or the FBI. Calling this phone number will connect you to a scammer who conducts the scam.

What to do

To handle the intrusive pop-up, on a Windows machine, pressing the "ctrl" key in combination with the "w" key should immediately remove the pop-up or the current window that's being viewed.

“Ctrl + W” is a keyboard shortcut that is most used to close a program, window, tab, or document.

Police say no legitimate entity would ever request payment in the form of gift cards or gift card codes or direct you to withdraw cash and ship it in the mail.

The scams are the result of social engineering, confidence tricks, and other deceit designed to gain the victim's compliance into thinking they are doing the right thing.