Houston County Sheriff’s Office warns of email scam
WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The Houston County Sheriff’s Office is warning the community about a scam involving a man wrongfully claiming to be with Norton Antivirus and taking money from victims.
According to HCSO, complaints have been received saying victims receive an email, appearing to come from Norton Antivirus, the email tells the victims that they owe money to Norton, and that they must call a telephone number in order to resolve the issue.
In each case, the victims made contact with an unidentified male who requested remote access to the victim’s computer– after access is granted the suspect goes into the victim’s online banking website and transfers money from the victim’s savings account into their checking account. The suspect then tells the victim that they made a mistake and inadvertently deposited the wrong amount of money into their checking account, but none of the victims were aware that the money deposited into their checking account was actually taken from their savings account. The victims are then instructed to go to Target and buy gift cards in the amount of the deposit and then contact the suspect to relay the gift card information to the suspect, who then transfers the amounts from the gift cards to their own account to complete the scam.
The suspect has been described as a male with an Indian accent, and his location is unknown currently.
The sheriff’s office says if you receive an email like the one described here, do not contact the number and do not allow anyone to access your computer remotely, and that criminals are getting more creative in their unlawful activities.
