Scam costs local resident thousands

Clear Lake area residents are being put on alert about a gift card scam circulating in the area.

On Thursday, Dec. 20, the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office received a report from a county resident believing they had been scammed. The responding sheriff’s 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 a 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 gift card number was provided to the male, who was still in phone contact with the resident.

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 num-

[wlm_nonmember]To read more of this article, please login or sign up for our E-Edition[/wlm_nonmember][wlm_ismember]

bers 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 Sheriff’s Office wants to inform the public of this incident and the increasing number of scams being reported to law enforcement,” stated Sheriff Kevin Pals.  “We 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 law enforcement agency.”

The Clear Lake Police Department is assisting in the investigation.

Citizens with information about a crime are encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-383-0088. Rewards may be available.

[/wlm_ismember]