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November 20, 2018 - 11:21 AM
KAMLOOPS - Police in Kamloops are warning the public yet again after a victim lost $18,000 to a ransomware computer scam.
In a news release issued today, Nov. 20, by Kamloops RCMP, police say a few months back, a victim’s computer froze prompting a phoney Microsoft alert which asked for funds to fix the issue.
Police say the victim provided their credit card number to the software company NAVSAM Systems Ltd. who made several charges to the victim’s credit card. Recently, police say the victim received another similar alert which said their firewall had crashed, requiring more money to fix the problem.
Police say the victim became suspicious and contacted the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre who advised this was a scam.
Officers are warning the public of any kind of alert stating they need to pay funds in order to fix their computer. People should contact the software or security company directly for assistance, police say.
Police are also warning the public not to click on any links in a fake alert message, not to call any numbers, close all windows and to exit their browser and reboot.
Just last week, Kamloops RCMP warned the public about a scam after a man lost $4,000 to a fraud artist claiming to be employed by the security department of a major Canadian bank.
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