A 74-year-old Arnold man was scammed out of $800 after he provided information for gift cards to an unknown address while trying to collect a refund for a computer program he installed. The incident happened Jan. 16, Arnold Police reported.
The next day the man contacted authorities and told them he had received a phone call from a man claiming to be with a company trying to get a refund to him for a program he installed on his computer. The victim said he was first instructed to buy a $400 Walmart gift card and call the man back with the gift card number. After doing as he was asked, the victims said he was told the card did not work and he needed to get a $400 Target gift card and call back with the information, according to the report.
The victim told police he later discovered that both cards’ $400 balances had been emptied, for a total of $800, the report said.
As of Jan. 22, there were no suspects, and Arnold Police had turned the case over to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, Capt. Rich Shular said.