A senior citizen faced with the threat of going to prison is out tens of thousands of dollars in another scam. The Traverse City man fell victim to an online scam – and the threat of time behind bars for something he didn’t even do was enough to scare the victim into emptying their bank account.
Wednesday afternoon a scam came straight for a Traverse City senior, his computer, and his wallet. City Police Lt. Matt Richmond says, “He was on his computer and received a popup, indicating it was from Microsoft saying that they had detected child pornography on his computer.”
The 91 year old man panicked and police say he called the number on the popup – to speak with who he thought was a representative of Microsoft. Richmond says, “He called that number, spoke with a supposed representative of Microsoft. Also during that phone call an alleged police officer got on the phone, and indicated because of what was on his computer he was facing a substantial amount of time in prison if convicted.”
Rest assured, they told the victim, there was a way to avoid time behind bars. “In lieu of prosecution he could wire money to an account. Which the individual ended up wiring just over $76,000,” Richmond says.
In fact: $76,850. Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Lt. Brandon Brinks says, “We see victims all across the spectrum of ages, but typically people that fall prey to these things for the big amounts of money; it seems to hit the seniors more often than…
