Last month a retired gentleman came into my computer repair shop in Gettysburg. It was apparent he was not what you would call “tech savvy.” He had recently dialed a phone number on pop-up screen on his computer that advertised for Bitcoin.
He sat in the chair in front of my desk and told me his story. A scammer on the other end of a phone call had talked him into buying $16,000 in what he thought would be Cryptocurrency, but the money was actually being stolen from him.
“I guess I will have to go get a job at Walmart to replace the $16,000,” he said.
Unfortunately, Jim’s story is not at all unusual. Although most people we see here locally have not lost money, and those who did report losing “only” $500-$2000, many, many people have been scammed.
In fact, my businesses sees about 10 customers every month with similar stories. They are all here in our shop because they need to pay us to have their computer cleaned of a virus.
I am writing this to remind you that scammers are everywhere and that every one of us could be a victim.
I am sure many are aware of the scams that are out there. They can come in the form of a phone call (someone claiming to be from the Microsoft Corporation who asks if you computer is running slowly), by email (a message supposedly from a reputable company says they have renewed your magazine subscription and to call them), or on your computer itself (a pop-up asking you to call in for a great…
