Greg's Corner

Pop-up scammers are showing up at elderly victims’ doors

By Greg Collier

The pop-up scam is one of the more prolific online scams out there. It tends to target elderly victims, who may not be tech-savvy enough to recognize the scam. The scam starts out while the victim is online, and they receive a pop-up message on their device. It doesn’t matter what kind of device it is. They can be using a phone, tablet, or computer and the scam works the same.

The pop-up message typically says there is something wrong with the victim’s device. The message can even end up locking or freezing the device. There is almost always a phone number included in the message that claims to offer the solution to the victim’s tech problem. These phone numbers often claim to be from Microsoft, Apple, or some other tech giant, so they can appear more legitimate.

As we’re sure you’ve surmised, the phone number actually goes to a call center full of scammers. The scammers will usually tell their victims that their computer or bank account is being hacked. In either instance, the scammer will have the victim download an application that allows the scammer to have remote access to the victim’s device.

From there, the scam can go in any number of directions. Personal information could be stolen from the victim’s device, the scammers can access the victim’s financial accounts, or the scammers will ask for a substantial payment to ‘fix’ the device. This can be in the thousands of dollars in some cases. However, all of this is typically done remotely. Now, there is a group of scammers who are going to the victims’ houses to collect the victim’s money.

In Colorado, a number of elderly victims have reported falling victim to this new scam. It starts out the same with the victim getting the pop-up message, but from there it takes a wildly different turn.

In one instance, an 83-year-old woman was told the reason she got the message was because her bank was failing. She was also told not to tell anyone in her family or the police. They directed the woman to buy another cell phone they would use to communicate with her. She was then instructed to empty her bank account because the bank couldn’t be trusted, but someone from the ‘new bank’ would come by to pick up her money, so they could ‘protect’ it. A man showed up at her door to collect the money and the cell phone she was using to communicate with the scammers.

Similar scams happened to at least two other victims in the scam county. One victim was told to buy gold, which they gave $125,000 worth to the scammers. Another victim lost $36,000 in cash. Police were given different descriptions of the people who came to pick up the money, leading them to believe the collectors may not even be part of the same scam ring.

Anytime someone you don’t know tells you not to talk to your family or police, they’re trying to isolate you, so they can take advantage of you. If you receive one of these pop-up messages, try turning the device off and back on again to see if that resolves the issue. You should never call the phone number in the pop-up because it only goes to scammers, even if they claim to be from a large company.