Woman victimized in online scam

GRANT TOWNSHIP — A 69-year-old Montague woman was scammed out of thousands of dollars in an online scam that police are not going to be able to recover.

The Oceana County Sheriff’s Office received the fraud complaint, March 30, in the 9500 block of Oaklane Drive. The victim was playing an online game when a pop-up message appeared, stating that her Apple ID was used for a $349.99 purchase and to call Apple support. Upon calling the 855 number, she was instructed to deposit a large sum of money into a Bitcoin account.

A screenshot of the pop-up message the victim received.

Anytime a stranger, usually from a foreign country, requests money using Bitcoin or gift cards, it’s a scam, said Oceana County Sheriff Craig Mast. “We have no way to investigate these cases, because the person is not in the United States.” The scams often involve a large amount of money that the victims cannot recover. 

“Residents need to be educated and be aware that there are people out there trying to steal their money,” said Sheriff Mast.

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