Scam Targeted Western Springs 85-Year-Old: Cops

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – An 85-year-old Western Springs woman was the target of a scam after she sought to remove a virus from her computer earlier this month, police said.

Patch obtained the full police report through a public records request.

On Nov. 7, the woman, who lives on Wolf Road, started receiving supposed warnings from Microsoft that her computer had a virus, according to the report.

The following day, she contacted Software Pro about her computer issue. She paid the company $398 for a virus removal contract, police said.

The woman was then contacted by strangers who said the virus was not erased and that she needed to pay to get it removed again, the report said. They said her computer was not fixed properly and that they would repair it.

A man named Sam told the woman she would get a refund for her virus removal contract, police said. Then, he said he mistakenly refunded $9,380 to her account.

The man said the woman needed to pay back the amount. Otherwise, he would get fired from his job and both he and the woman would be investigated, according to the report.

This alarmed the woman. She withdrew $5,000 from her bank account on Nov. 8, $5,000 on Nov. 9 and $4,500 on Nov. 10, police said.

She bundled the amounts separately each day and sent cash to a number of addresses, which police did not reveal.

She lost all the money, totaling $14,500. The police report did not make it clear why the woman exceeded the $9,380 that was supposedly refunded by mistake.

She reported the scam Nov. 14.

The woman has closed all of her bank accounts, police said. She was advised to check her credit with the three major credit bureaus.