Computer troubles almost scammed Bluffton woman out of $8k

A Bluffton woman thought she could trust the person helping fix her computer problems last Thursday, but that mistake almost cost her $8,000, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff's Office report.

On Thursday, when the victim's computer was having trouble, she called the computer tech company she had a contract with. The report said the person on the phone told her to leave her computer on so they could work on it from their location.

A man who said he was with the company called the victim later and told her they were having issues with their system and would need to refund her the amount she paid for the yearly contract. He walked her through an online form and when she entered the $900 amount she should be refunded, the form turned it into $9,000 and closed out, the report said. He told the victim she would need to refund them at least $8,000 of the $8,100 she now owed the company and would need to do so with gift cards from Target, Walgreen's or Walmart.

The report said she withdrew $8,000 from her bank account and bought four $2,000 Target gift cards. She told the man on the phone each gift card number and access code. He told her to shred the cards and receipts, which she did, the report said.

When the man tried to call again Friday, the victim became suspicious and when he didn't know her customer ID number she called the tech company and they told her she'd been scammed.

She was able to refund three of the gift cards, but the fourth had already been used in California, the report said.

This story was originally published July 4, 2018 at 2:36 PM.