Chris, who did not want her last name published, said both she and husband received two calls over two days from people claiming to be from Telstra.
‘The second lot was from Melbourne and they claimed the first call from Sydney was a scam,’ she said.
She said they sounded perfectly plausible when they claimed that the computer had been corrupted.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW‘They showed a screen from FBI in America about this Aurelon virus. They have you log into www.ammyy.com and work through your machine.
‘Unfortunately we filled out an online form with our details.
‘This means they have access to everything on your computer, which I didn’t know at the time.’
The 62-year-old said she really got sucked in and didn’t want the same to happen to other vulnerable people.
‘They attempted to get $218 from our Western Union account but failed,’ she said.
‘They did get nearly $500 from a Coles credit card and luckily we will not have to pay that amount after reporting the fraud to police.
‘I know we were gullible; we are not computer literate ” but we won’t get caught again.’
Scarborough police station officer-in-charge Senior Sergeant Neville Patterson said people should be suspicious of all unsolicited calls and emails from unverified sources, particularly if they are asking for personal information.
‘Personal or financial information should never be shared with someone you don’t know,’ he said. ‘Any suspicious telephone calls asking for personal information should be terminated immediately.
‘As an emerging crime trend, it’s difficult to identify who is being targeted by these types of scams.
‘Often calls and emails are done en masse in the hopes of attracting the vulnerable.’
Sen Sgt Patterson said computer and technology-enabled crime was becoming an increasing problem due to the popularity of portable communication devices, social networking and people’s willingness to share information.
‘This type of crime is particularly difficult to investigate as offenders use web addresses to hide their identities and often operate from other countries, making prosecution difficult,’ he said.
‘Anyone believing they are the victim of this type of crime should immediately report the matter to police, and alert their family and friends to the possibility that their information has been compromised to avoid contact information being used.’
See Editorial