Provincial police in Perth Country are reminding the public to be wary of unsolicited messages after a local resident was scammed out of $320,000.
The incident began in November when the Perth East resident noticed a pop-up on their computer directing them to call a provided phone number due to an alleged security breach. The resident did so and was told the person on the other end of the phone line was a Microsoft worker. The fake tech employee then requested remote access to the victim's computer before telling them their finances had been compromised.
According to OPP, the victim was told to withdraw $80,000 from their bank and to purchase over $240,000 worth of 100 gram gold bars from an online company. After the gold was delivered to the victim's house, unknown people showed up at the residence on five separate occasions over the next two weeks to pick up the bars and the cash.
Police are now looking for persons of interest described as Asian men, between the ages of 25 and 35, with short dark hair, who were short in stature. The men were driving a white Lexus sedan and dark coloured small sedans with unknown makes and models.
In recent weeks, Perth OPP have received multiple reports of such computer "security breach" scams in the area. To help prevent from becoming a victim of fraud, police are encouraging the public to stay alert and educate themselves about online and telephone fraud.
"If you receive an unsolicited phone call or message, asking for personal information (name, birthday, address, phone number, bank information, SIN number) or payment via gift cards for a product, do not provide the information and hang-up the phone and block the phone number," police said. "Legitimate organizations do not receive payments by gift cards of any type."
Police added additional warning signs to look out for when dealing with unsolicited messages include emails, text-messages or phone calls sent at odd times of the night, creating a false sense of urgency, spelling errors, lack of punctuation or capitals in sentences, automated messages, random links or attachments, and generic business or company names.