North Otago residents are being warned to be on the lookout for two computer scams targeting senior citizens, after two elderly women, one of whom was convinced to hand over $400, were the recent targets of fraudsters.
Police in Kurow and Oamaru yesterday said they were aware of two separate internet scams ''doing the rounds''.
Constable Craig Bennett, of Kurow, said elderly residents in the area had received phone calls from a 00998-prefix number, which was the code for Uzbekistan, from a person claiming to be a manager from Microsoft.
Const Bennett said victims were then told to log on to a specific website, so the supposed manager could fix faults on the Microsoft Operating System.
Once access is gained, a virus is uploaded to show faults and people given details on how to pay by credit card to have repairs made.
''An initial fee of $US400 is ... then followed up by any further repairs that might have to be done by another $US400, which is under the $500 New Zealand credit card threshold that is automatically flagged by the banks,'' he said.
One woman had ''unfortunately'' paid one instalment of $400 before she realised what was happening.
''Now she has the costly work of a computer services technician to go through the computer and remove all of the virus software,'' Const Bennett said.
''We are warning people that if they receive a phone call from someone asking them to access a specific website, and that call does not come from a friend or relative, please do not access those sites.''
Community Constable Bruce Dow, of Oamaru, said a second virus, which appeared to emanate from South Africa and was linked to vehicle parts sites and some senior citizens' sites, was also now ''doing the rounds'' in the town.
''The virus is attached to the site and downloaded on to the computer causing it to completely freeze up. It cannot be overridden by the user and requires removal from an expert,'' Senior Constable Dow said.
''The virus claims that the computer has been 'locked due to porn being discovered on the computer by a police search'. The page has the New Zealand Police logo and the Interpol logo on it. It states that the owner has been fined $100 and gives details of the phone number to have the lockdown removed.''
Snr Const Dow said the number was rung by a local woman and she had been told to take a $100 cash cheque to Western Union.
''She thought her grandson had been on the computer and did not want him in trouble but luckily came and saw police first.
''It cost her $130 to have the virus removed and her security updated, so [the scam] is quite complex in its approach.''
There was ''little'' police could do as the scam appeared to come from South Africa, he said.
