DON’T be sweet talked or pressured by scammers into sending them money.
That is the message police want residents to heed when talking to callers who have misrepresenting themselves.
A Queensland Police Service spokesperson said people needed to hang-up on unsolicited calls from anyone claiming to be from Telstra who wanted to talk about computer problems.
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“These criminals are very convincing, they will request you download a remote access software program like ‘Team Viewer’ onto your computer,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the scam involved getting the victim to direct money over Money Gram or Western Union or sending iTunes payment reference numbers.
This was after a cash deposit appeared in the victim’s own account.
“...the money which appears they are transferring into your account is actually your own money which they have moved from one of your own accounts,” the spokesperson said.
“Once you have transferred the money or given over the iTunes reference numbers, your money is gone with little to no chance of recovering it.”
“Quite simply, it is a scam.”
The spokesperson said a business or government department would never request payment using an iTunes gift card.
They would also never ask for help to catch hackers.
