Proudly Serving the Citizens of Beaufort County, South Carolina

For emergencies, call 9-1-1

Proudly Serving the Citizens of Beaufort County, South Carolina

For emergencies, call 9-1-1

Man loses $180K after ‘renewing’ computer program

A 75-year-old man in Sun City Hilton Head filed a report with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office about a phone call he received from someone identifying themselves as working for a security company that protects computers.

The person on the phone told the man that he owed the company money to renew the security program. The Sun City man gave the person on the phone permission to access his computer remotely.

During this process, the person controlling his computer accessed the man’s online banking account and withdrew $70,000 from his account. The person on the phone told the man that this was a mistake and that they would refund the money.

A few days later, the man discovered that not only had the company not refunded the $70,000, they had withdrawn an additional $110,000 from his account.