By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — A 72-year-old Dearborn Heights woman was swindled out of $1,200 in Best Buy gift cards on June 20 by a con artist pretending to fix her personal computer.
The woman said she looked up a number for Best Buy Geek Squad online, which unfortunately directed her to a scam artist, who talked her through giving them remote access to her computer.
She initially purchased $800 in gift cards for a house call from a computer support person, then later purchased an additional $400 in gift cards to cover the cost of a machine to remove the viruses from her computer. However, after she provided the gift card numbers, she never heard from the scammer again, and did not receive a service call or equipment.
When she contacted a Best Buy store June 22, she learned that she had been scammed. She was advised to file a police report, to change all of the passwords on her computer and to remove credit card information from her laptop as well.