Broadband scam warning as police reveal £80,000 lost to fraudsters with THIS trick
One victim had £25,000 stolen after he let criminals posing as broadband support assistants access his computer
SCAMMERS have conned almost £80,000 out of victims as part of a broadband scam, police in Northern Ireland have warned.
Criminals are calling up people pretending to be from an internet provider and offering help for disrupted connections.
The tricksters then persuade their victims to hand over their computer passwords and, in some cases, even offer compensation, according to the .
They start off by asking a number of questions about a person’s home broadband connection and instruct them on what to do.
The fraudsters then tell the victims to download malicious software that allows them to takeover the person’s computer and access their banking details.
“We have put out a number of warnings about scams, but we have seen a particular increase in the number of scams where some type of broadband issue is raised,” said Chief Superintendent Simon Walls.
“Once they are into the online bank account, a series of transactions can be made that takes money out of the person’s account and sends it off to a number of different accounts.”
One victim had £25,000 pinched from them as part of the scam.
Mr Walls revealed that the con has been altered over the past four weeks with some people now being offered compensation for slow broadband service.
“Someone may be offered £300 compensation and accept, but a figure much greater looks like it goes into their account,” he said.
“So £5,000 looks like it has been transferred to the person’s account, but it hasn’t been transferred at all.
“Once that inflated figure is put in, the person will then seek to refund that money and it is at that point that the payments will come out of their own account into the scammers’ account.”
Police have apparently received reports of five people scammed out of varying amounts of money, ranging from £8,000 to £25,000 over the past month.
In total, the scammers – who are thought to be based overseas – have nabbed almost £78,000 from unsuspecting victims.
Police have urged people to be cautious over giving out personal information or allowing an unknown person access to their computer.
Anyone who thinks they may have been targeted by fraudsters should contact the PSNI.
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