Elderly Man Lost $7.5K In Computer Scam: Hackettstown Police

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ — A Hackettstown man lost $7,500 in a computer scam, Hackettstown police said.

Police say a 78-year-old man handed over $7,500 in gift cards in exchange for what he thought was a refund from a computer company, police said.

"This type of scam is the first to be reported to our department and we want to make the public aware of this scam," police said.

The man told police he has been using United Arab Emirates based a company called "CORE IT" to "fix and clean the internal workings of his computer" for two years.

On Tuesday, a "Travis Carter" called the man saying the business' license had expired and they wanted to refund him. Carter said because it was an international transaction, the company would deposit money in his bank account in exchange for gift cards.

The man bought $7,500 in Target gift cards, and when he saw $12,000 in his bank amount he gave Carter the gift card numbers, police said.

On Wednesday, the company said they would take more money unless he paid another $2,000 in gift cards. The man went to the bank to change accounts, police said, where he found out there had never been $12,000 deposited.

"It appears his computer was hacked, and the victim was looking at a fake online bank statement," police said.

Image via Shutterstock