Sun City woman offered “computer protection.” She got scammed instead, police say

A Sun City woman lost $18,000 in a months-long scam involving promises of computer protection and gift cards, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.

The scam began on March 28 when the woman contacted a company called “PC Care” and let an employee take control of her computer to give her “computer protection,” the report said.

The victim then logged onto her Wells Fargo bank account so the employee could have access to them. The employee also had the victim write a check for $649.99 so he could transfer the money from her account and get her a “five-year service plan,” the report said.

On Saturday, the same employee called the victim again and told her the company was going out of business so he needed access to her computer to reimburse her the $650, the report said. She again let him access her bank account and he made transfers that made it look like he had accidentally refunded $6,650, the report said.

The employee begged the victim to help him get the money back or he would lose his job, the report said. He told her to go to the store and buy 18 $1,000 gift cards.

She then bought 12 $1,000 Walmart gift cards and six $1,000 Sam’s Club gift cards and told the employee the card numbers, the report said.

The victim later realized she had been scammed, the report said. She tried to refund the cards but they had already been used.

This story was originally published July 17, 2018 at 3:30 PM.