Rochester man scammed out of 18K in online scams

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – A Rochester man was scammed out of thousands of dollars in an online scam.

The 70-year-old victim was first targeted through a pop-up message on his computer on March 5, 2023. The message alerted the man of a virus and displayed a phone number to call for help.

The man called the number and was instructed to send $15,000 to an address in New York.

Three days later, he was told to send $3,000 worth of gift cards to California.

After sending the gift cards, he called the number again to report sending the payment.

The called on the other end laughed and said, “You’ve been scammed.”

The victim then reported what happened to police.

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