Every time I see a story like this, it makes my blood boil! A vulnerable person gets a phone call from someone claiming a loved one is in trouble or hurt, a product they purchased is defective and they're getting a refund- - if they only pay some fees first, or as in this case, they're getting a refund on some software product.

These susceptible individuals end up losing money they can't afford to lose and most of the time, it is completely unrecoverable.

Here was the report from the Lincoln Country Sheriff's Office Facebook page:

A Lincoln County resident was recently scammed out of around $20,000. The scammers called and claimed they owned a software company that was closing. The scammers told the victim they were going to refund money for the software he had purchased a few months ago. They convinced the victim to let them remotely log into his home computer, which gave them access to his Online banking. The scammers over refunded the victim by $11,000. The scammers then convinced the victim to withdraw $11,000 from his account and convert it into Bitcoin and send it to them. They also convinced the victim to purchase $1,000 worth of Google Play gift cards and send them the codes. After having access to the victim’s Online accounts, the scammers were eventually able to take more money out.

The Sheriff's Office post went on to say that the alert was not meant to embarrass anyone, but to serve as a reminder to never give out your personal information on the phone unless you are absolutely, positively sure of who you are speaking with.

If someone asks you to buy gift cards or Bitcoin for any kind of monetary transaction, just assume they are trying to scam you.

Source: Lincoln County Sheriff's Department

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