DA issues warning after two scammed out of $175,000

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Sedgwick County District Attorney is issuing a warning after two different people were scammed out of nearly $175,000.

Marc Bennett’s office says twice in the past five days, he has had to sign inquisitions for his investigators to obtain bank records in connection to two people who were conned over the computer.

The first victim, a man in his late 70s, responded to a pop-up on his computer warning him that he had been hacked. The scammer tricked him into wiring $35,000 to another bank account so that they could “keep his money from being stolen and catch the hacker.”

He later attempted to wire an additional $20,000, but his bank blocked the transaction. It was then that he realized he was the victim of a scam.

In the second incident, a woman in her mid-70s also responded to a pop-up claiming she had been hacked by calling the number in the pop-up. She spoke to a woman who claimed to be from Microsoft who told her she had been hacked and someone had withdrawn $20,000 from her account for pornography.

The scammer told the woman she could be charged with possessing pornography and money laundering. She convinced the woman to make several withdrawals from her bank account, totaling just under $140,000.

The district attorney says that the money is now gone. Bennett says you should consider the following:

Never call the number in the text, email, or pop-up. Always look up the company if you are concerned. Call the number directly from the company website.

If someone you have never met asks for cash, gift cards, or cryptocurrency, it is a scam.

Legitimate companies do not use pop-up messages on computers to contact their customers. If you receive such a message, telephone call, or cell phone text, it is a scam. Hang up the phone or just disregard the pop-up message.

Anyone who has questions about any consumer-related transactions is asked to call the District Attorney’s Consumer Protection Division at 316-660-3600.