Hub City Times

Top Menu

  • Contact Us
  • E-Editions
  • Subscribe

Main Menu

  • News
    • Around the County
    • Arts & Ent
    • Education
    • Government
    • Local
  • Covid 19
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • Sports News
    • High School Sports Scores
    • Wisconsin Rapids Rafters
  • Coming Events
  • Business
  • Obits
  • Classifieds
    • Place Ad
    • View Ads
  • Legal Ads
    • Our Legals
    • Statewide
  • Senior Photos 2021
  • Contact Us
  • E-Editions
  • Subscribe

logo

Hub City Times

  • News
    • Around the County
    • Arts & Ent
    • Education
    • Government
    • Local
  • Covid 19
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • Sports News
    • High School Sports Scores
    • Wisconsin Rapids Rafters
  • Coming Events
  • Business
  • Obits
  • Classifieds
    • Place Ad
    • View Ads
  • Legal Ads
    • Our Legals
    • Statewide
  • Senior Photos 2021
Local
Home›News›Local›Computer scam hitting area

Computer scam hitting area

By Hub City Times
April 23, 2018
1210
0
Share:

By Kris Leonhardt

MARSHFIELD – Local police reports have been dotted with the details of individuals hit by a popular computer scam, which has affected the country over the past year.

While scammers operating inside of the United States have been stopped, Jason Pleet, co-owner of the Marshfield PC Doctors location, said that many of the scammers are outside of the country and little can be done to stop them.

Pleet said that the scam had slowed down over the Christmas holiday, but is now back in full force.

“We are about 4-8 a week right now, and I have a feeling that there is a lot more that we are not hearing about,” Pleet said.

“What generally happens is a customer will be browsing – we get a lot of it from Yahoo and search links off of there – and they’ll see a message; it comes up full screen, it looks like a genuine computer error message, and it has an 800 number to call.

“If you catch it at this point, no damage is done; there is no infection in the computer. What people will do is call the 800 number. They will then tell you to go to a website to download a program and let them into your computer.

“If you do that, the scam has gone too far. Now, they basically own your computer.”

At that point, Pleet said that the scammer will begin showing you fraudulent error messages and request money to fix what they claim is needed.

“I think the lowest I’ve ever seen is $200, and we’ve had several customers who have had paid thousands of dollars. Once they are in the computer, they will just keep calling you back saying ‘Oh, we’ve found another problem that will cost $500 a fix, $700 a fix,’ and it continues to escalate.”

Pleet said that many times the victim doesn’t even realize the scam is occurring and will begin having other issues with their computer, and that is when they seek assistance with a computer repair service.

Pleet recommends shutting the computer off when they see the fraudulent error message appear on the screen.

“That will short out the scam before it ever begins,” he said.

“If they’ve had somebody in their computer…everything they type in on the screen, they essentially are sitting over their shoulder watching everything. Stop using the computer, change banking passwords with the bank directly – don’t do it over internet on the infected computer, get the computer serviced by a local shop, and after the computer is serviced, change email addresses, (and passwords).”

Tagscomputer scamFeaturedPC Doctors
Previous Article

Charles E. “Chuck” Weber

Next Article

Spencer hosts girls and boys track

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Related articles More from author

  • LocalNews

    Marshfield man struck by train

    July 30, 2014
    By Hub City Times
  • Photo Gallery

    Photos from Relay For Life in Marshfield

    August 2, 2014
    By HubCityAdmin
  • News

    Cancer gets lapped at Relay For Life

    August 2, 2014
    By Hub City Times
  • Business

    Hotel Marshfield combines sophistication with comfort

    August 6, 2014
    By Hub City Times
  • Arts & Entertainment

    New Visions Gallery fundraises in style

    August 8, 2014
    By Hub City Times
  • BusinessFood

    Marshfield Farmers’ Market in full bloom

    August 9, 2014
    By Hub City Times

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

About Us


Hub City Times is published by Multi Media Channels LLC, N2919 County Road QQ Waupaca, WI 54981.

Copyright © 2020 Multi Media Channels, All Rights Reserved. Designed by MMC Team Awesome
×