The Brown County Sheriff has reported a new scam.
Sheriff John Merchant said that recently, he has had a number of complaints from citizens about a “POP UP AD” randomly showing up on their computer screen that disables the computer. The ad states that the computer has been locked and disabled by windows and gives a number to call in order to repair.
“It will appear that is is being sent by “WINDOWS” and looks to be somewhat official—-HOWEVER IT IS NOT BEING SENT BY WINDOWS—THIS IS A SCAM!” he said. “At times, this “POP UP AD” is accompanied by a number of other pop ups and disables the use of the computers.
Sheriff Merchant said several citizens have called the number listed on the ad, and have been advised there is a fee associated with unlocking the computer and they want the ability to remote in on the computer to fix the problem as well as bank account information to pay for their service.
“At this time, all those who have reported have not given out their bank information to pay for that fee,” he said. “Be advised, if you should agree to this, you are giving complete strangers full access to everything you have on your computer which includes any and all confidential information.”
“I am alerting the public: DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR BANKING INFORMATION. If you do, they will use this info to drain your bank accounts,” Sheriff Merchant said. “If…
