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Scam reported by Cerro Gordo county resident costing them thousands of dollars in gift cards

RURAL CLEAR LAKE – A Cerro Gordo county resident bought thousands of dollars in gift cards as they were repeatedly scammed after a pop-up window appeared on their computer.

On December 20, 2018 the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office received a report from a county resident believing they had been scammed. The responding sheriffs deputy was told by the resident that they had been using their personal computer in their home when they noticed a pop-up screen that appeared to come from the Microsoft Corporation. The pop up stated they needed to update their computer and provided a number to call. The resident called the number provided and contacted a female who then transferred the call to male. The male instructed the resident to go to a business in Clear Lake and purchase a gift card. The resident was told that this was necessary to fix the computer issue. The resident went to a business in Clear Lake and purchased a specific gift card. The resident provided the gift card number to the male who was still in phone contact with the resident. Additionally, the resident was led to believe they would be reimbursed for the original gift card expense by buying additional gift cards. The resident purchased several more gift cards and provided the gift card numbers to the scammer. As a result of this incident the resident was scammed for several thousand dollars from their personal bank account.

The Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office wants to inform the public of this incident and the increasing number of scams being reported to law enforcement. They would remind you that you should never give out any of your personal information to unknown sources and report any attempts made by others to gain that information to your local law enforcement agency.

The Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Clear Lake Police Department.

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