Scammers Target Westlake Residents Online

WESTLAKE, OH — Two Westlake residents were targeted by identity thieves and online scams last week, according to police reports. Neither resident lost money in the ploys, but police are reminding everyone to be cautious when responding to email from unknown people.

On Tuesday, Jan. 7, police were called to a Westlake resident's home. The resident said they had received an email from, what appeared to be, American Express. The email included the American Express logo and urged the email recipient to click a link.

After clicking the link, the resident was taken to a website asking them for their personal information, including their social security number and various Internet passwords. The email appeared as if it were confirming the man's information with American Express.

"After entering the info, the victim became suspicious and contacted the company to learn it was a scam. While the citizen has not suffered any monetary loss, officers recommended that he contact the credit bureaus to put an alert on his information," police said.

Then, on Thursday, Jan. 9, a resident called police and said she had been hacked. A company pretending to be Microsoft sent her a pop-up message, saying her computer was broken and she needed to send them $20,000 to remedy the issue.

The resident suspected the pop-up was a scam and did not respond.

"This is a good reminder to everyone to be cautious of unsolicited emails or other electronic pop up messages that ask for personal information," Westlake police said. "They can look very legitimate. If you are not expecting the correspondence, call the company to confirm before giving up your info. Always use a phone number you obtain independent of the suspect email."