Officers of the Bellefontaine Police Department remind residents to use extreme caution before giving up personal information or granting personal computer access to strangers on the telephone, even if they claim to be with a reputable company.
Jeffrey Kimbel Jr., of 1000 Garfield Ave., Lot 64, told officers in a report filed about 7:11 p.m. Thursday that he believed he was the victim of an attempted computer scam.
The victim reported he was contacted by phone by a suspect with a “heavy foreign accent” that claimed to work for Microsoft. The suspect said he wanted to pay out a refund that was due Kimbel, but first needed remote access to his computer.
After receiving access to the computer the suspect signed onto the victim’s personal checking account, and made a deposit, followed quickly by a withdrawal to a separate account.
Kimbel told officers he then “called out” the man for his suspicious activity, and the suspect quickly hung up.
He indicated no additional funds had been taken, and officers told the victim to secure his personal checking account, and advised he get his computer inspected prior to future use to make sure it could not be remotely accessed.