A Central Huron senior is out thousands of dollars after he fell victim to a coordinated online and phone scam.
It started on November 23, when the victim received a text-based message advising him that he was due to receive a $399 refund from a computer product that he had purchased years before.
He was instructed to contact an out-of-country number to initiate the refund process. After doing so, the victim was instructed to key in a few commands on his keyboard, and he was provided with an email address to plug into his computer.
After following simple instructions, the man provided the scammers with remote access to his computer system.
From that point, the scammers accessed the victim's online banking accounts and shuffled $3,999 from his savings account into his chequing account. He was led to believe the scammers had deposited a refund into his account of $3,999.
The scammers then advised him that they had refunded him too much, so he was instructed to purchase $3,400 worth of i-tunes gift cards from a local business and call them back with the gift card authorization codes. The victim followed the plan and provided the gift card authorization codes to the scammers.
Less than 12 hours later the victim received another call from the scammers, advising him that due to a computer glitch they didn't receive the transaction. They instructed him to go to a different store to purchase $3,000 in Google Play gift cards. The victim proceeded with the purchase and provided the authorization codes to the scammers.
The relentless scammers contacted him yet again and informed him the transaction was unsuccessful. This time the victim refused to make additional gift card purchases, hung up the phone and contacted authorities.
The victim ended up losing $3,400. Fortunately, his credit card provider was able to detect the second transaction as a fraud.
According to the OPP, this is a very common scam that appears to be gaining momentum.