Last week Brandon Police Service received information of a local victim of the GEEK SQUAD SCAM. Fraudsters convinced the victim to send them approximately $50,000. Police continue to investigate.
In these cases, fraudsters impersonate a well-known business, GEEK SQAD, in order to rip off unsuspecting victims who received either a text or an email message saying they were charged hundreds of dollars to renew their GEEK SQUAD membership. If you want to dispute the charge or the membership, you are prompted to call a number within 24-hours.
Victims who call the number are asked to provide remote access to their computer. If you allow the fraudster this access, they will then be able to install spyware programs on your computer, steal your on-line banking information and drain your bank accounts.
They may also ask for your bank account information to refund you money, and then fake a transaction to make it look like they gave you too much before they ask you to pay them back in gift cards or other means, by providing the PIN numbers to the cards they convince you to purchase.
If you receive an alarming message like this, do not react. If you want to be sure that, the real GEEK SQUAD isn’t contacting you, contact them with a real phone number you know by looking it up. DO NOT call the number provided in the message.
For more information on current frauds and scams, you can always visit the Canadian Anti-Fraud Website: https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm
If you are the victim of a fraud and have lost finances please report this to your local authorities. If you receive a message similar to this, you can also report this to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
