ROCKLAND TWP., Pa. – State police say a Rockland Township woman got scammed out of nearly $115,000 while in Washington State, and when she returned to Pennsylvania, police say she got an alert that her personal info was being used in criminal activity, and she started communicating with the scammer.
Berks woman loses almost $115K in computer scam
“They’re scraping information off internet websites. Full names, acquaintances, parents, addresses,” Richard Mutzel, VP of securities and compliance for Omega Systems, says his cybersecurity firm often assists law enforcement investigating tech scam incidents.
“We will provide whatever logs or information pertaining to the case,” said Mutzel.
How common are these types of incidents? Well, according to those at Omega Systems, they’ve already dealt with three this week.
“We do see these very frequently. We’ve had incidents across prospective clients,” Mutzel said.
Many scams often target the elderly, but younger people aren’t immune, especially if they’re temporarily out of the area.
“Looking at things while you’re on vacation, you’re not as vigilant in looking at things on those phishing emails,” said Mutzel.
We’re all used to the scams involving money requested from someone overseas, but that’s changing, too.
“Now, they’re compromising computers from within the United States,” said Mutzel. “They’re creating botnets and all these internet of things that are becoming compromised.”
Police and cybersecurity experts are encouraging people to remain vigilant with who they’re commuting with online.
