Alex Trelinski
AN Alicante Province scammer swindled a Galicia woman out of €9,000 after pretending to be a Microsoft-certified technician.
He took control of the woman’s computer, with her permission, but instead of removing viruses, he emptied her bank account instead.
Three men have been arrested in Ibi after the victim from Noi in the Galicia region filed a complaint with the Guardia Civil.
The victim was hoaxed by a cold call from the bogus technician who said he was a Microsoft employee.
He claimed to have somehow detected several viruses on her home computer.
He promised to get things running even better and the woman was hoodwinked into supplying her access details that allowed the trickster to remotely take control of the computer.
The helpful conman told the woman that she needed to leave the unit on for several hours so that he could do a full check and remove all the viruses.
He accessed her online banking and made several transfers totalling €9,000 to a ‘mule’ based in Ibi, who in turn laundered the money into other accounts in return for a commission.
The ‘mule’ along with the two men who cold-called victims and distributed their illegal gains, were detained over the scam.
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