Community Police Public Safety

Springfield Twp. Police Warn of Computer Scam

Computer Scam

In a post on the department’s Crimewatch site Tuesday, police said they have received “multiple calls” from residents reporting fraudulent activity stemming from their use of computers.

Est. Read Time: < 1 min

If you think something seems suspicious, that’s because it most likely is. That’s the message Springfield Township Police shared in an alert about computer pop-up scams they said they’ve investigated recently.

In a post on the department’s Crimewatch site Tuesday, police said they have received “multiple calls” from residents reporting fraudulent activity stemming from their use of computers.

“In most cases, victims report seeing a pop-up from ‘Microsoft’ alerting them to a threat on their computer and instructing them to call the phone number provided in the alert box,” police said. “Once the victim calls the phone number, the person who answers claims they are from Microsoft and will help them clear up their computer, most of the time claiming the issue stemmed from questionable pornography sites on the computer. The person then requests remote access to the computer and ultimately requests payment from the victims, mainly in the form of Bitcoin.”

Police said residents shouldn’t be afraid to question the authenticity of a message on their computer screen.

“Call police immediately if you have any suspicion of scams or fraud,” they advised, noting that “99.9 percent of the time” residents who believe they are being scammed are correct.

“These scammers are slick. Don’t become a victim!” police added.

Newsletter

Subscribe to receive our newsletter in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday & Friday.

Please wait...

Thank you for subscribing!

About the author

Josh Popichak

Josh Popichak is the owner, publisher and editor of Saucon Source. A Lehigh Valley native, he's covered local news since 2005 and previously worked for Berks-Mont News and AOL/Patch. Contact him at josh@sauconsource.com.

Leave a Comment