By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
Two Saline County women were scammed out of thousands of dollars in separate incidents this week.
A 41-year-old woman who was wanting to raise her credit score was online researching loans when she was contacted by someone claiming to be with America's Loan Company, Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan said this morning.
The man told her that he could help her raise her credit score and said he would deposit a $500 loan into her bank account. He told her she could pay it back by purchasing a $500 Target gift card and providing him with the information from the card.
The woman took out two $500 loans with the alleged company and purchased two $500 Target gift cards. When she checked her bank account, it showed that the money had been transferred, however, shortly afterward, the scammer withdrew the $1,000 from the woman's bank account, Soldan said.
The woman ended up being out $1,000 and having an overdrawn bank account.
In the second scam incident, a 73-year-old Saline County woman was online when she clicked on a link that froze her computer, Soldan said. A window claiming to be from the Microsoft Help Line popped up with a phone number for her to call. When she called, the person on the other end asked the woman to give him access to her computer and to provide a credit card number to pay for the service of unlocking her computer. She did so and the computer was unfrozen.
A short while later, someone claiming to be from Discover - the card she had just used - called and told her that she had made multiple purchases and owed $8,000 immediately. She was told that if she didn't pay immediately, she would go to jail, Soldan said.
The woman was instructed to go to J.C. Penney's, Home Depot, or Lowe's and purchase gift cards to pay the alleged debt. She went to Lowe's and purchased four $2,000 gift cards. Soldan said the Lowe's clerk and the manager both told the woman that she was being scammed and tried to talk her out of the purchase, but she was determined to buy the gift cards.
The woman provided the information from the gift cards to the person allegedly from Discover. A short while later, she received another call from someone claiming to be from Discover and was told that she actually owed $10,000 and would need to purchase another $2,000 gift card.
Soldan said at that point, she called her bank and was told she was being scammed. No additional money was provided to the scammers.