A Smithfield-area man lost $15,000 after mistakenly going to the wrong website.
The 65 year-old victim purchased a new laptop computer from a North Carolina Best Buy in 2022. He wanted to make sure his Geek Squad protection was still in place and attempted to look up their website.
Unfortunately, the victim clicked on a fake website that appeared to be from Best Buy. He was instructed to email in his personal information and later received a telephone call from a scammer pretending to buy with Geek Squad.
The victim allowed the fake tech support representative remote access to his laptop. He then noticed they were pulling up his bank account information, which they claimed was to deduct a yearly support protection fee.
Through a series of manipulated events, the con artist convinced the victim they had actually deposited $15,000 into his account, not withdrawn $150 for the fee.
He was instructed to obtain $15,000 in cash then take it to a BitCoin machine, which he did. The thieves then grabbed the cash and ran.