A Grove City resident was tricked into giving more than $30,000 to an unknown party through a fake Microsoft pop-up scam on April 4.

According to the Grove City Police Department, the woman was coerced into purchasing gift cards in various amounts and giving cash to this unknown party in order to regain access to her computer.

According to the police, the victim received a pop-up window message claiming to be from Microsoft.

Officers want to remind people that gift card purchases are scams and people should never to respond to these types of scams. The police said you should contact a family member or the police before responding to any pop-up on your computer that you are unaware of, or the Federal Trade Commission.

Companies like Microsoft do not 'lock' your computers. Anyone who encounters this should first try to close the internet browser window.