By Jim Newell
Special to the Clarkston News

(This is the first in a two-part series.)
OAKLAND COUNTY — Whether it’s from a phone call, text message or on a personal computer, scammers are finding new and increasingly more convincing ways to bilk people out of their hard-earned dollars.
Electronic, or internet, fraud can take many forms, with scammers representing a “legitimate” company over the phone and telling you that you owe money; or through text messages that ask you to click on a link; or locking up your computer and pretending to be Microsoft in order to get victims to grant them access to fix the problem.
The fraudsters can then access any personal information stored on your computer – account numbers or passwords, for example.
Lt. Darren Ofiara is commander of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Orion Township Substation and spent five years in the Cyber Crimes Unit (CCU).
“If you get scammed, the first thing to do is contact the companies and let them know and lock your accounts. Contact us to let us know. Document anything that’s occurred, any phone numbers or websites that you were on, copy and paste it so you have it for future use so we can investigate,” Ofiara said.
Bank of America Scam
Ofiara and his detectives have had several residents over the past couple of months file reports that someone had stolen their information and accessed their Bank of America accounts.
“Right now, there is some active fraud going on. We’re not really sure what it is, but it’s an Oakland County footprint-wide area that I’m aware of. I want to make sure that citizens know to check their accounts, especially if they are a Bank of America customer. It seems like that is the bank that’s really being targeted,” Ofiara said. “We have not noticed this happening at other banks. We do not know exactly where this is coming from.”
Bitcoin, Prepaid Cards Scams
Other scams the sheriff’s office is seeing right now include people being asked to pay in non-traditional methods.
“We’ve been hit really hard with the bitcoin scams. It’s where people are being asked to pay for a service or something else with either bitcoin, which is really big right now, or Apple cards or prepaid cards,” Ofiara said. “If anybody asks you to pay in bitcoin, Apple Pay or prepaid cards it is a scam. I want to make sure citizens know that.”
Ofiara describes an incident where an Orion Township resident reported that they received a phone call saying they owed $37,000 and had to pay in either bitcoin or prepaid cards. That resident was on their way to purchase the prepaid cards when they became suspicious.
“Thankfully, they stopped here at the station and asked us. He was going to get scammed out of $37,000,” Ofiara said. “If anyone asks for you to pay that way, do not pay it. Let us know and we’ll go from there. No good, legitimate business is going to make you pay that way.”
· Verify who’s contacting you: If a legitimate company (such as your financial institution, cable or utilities provider) contacts you, you can call them back. If you did not initiate the call, email or text it’s okay to be suspicious. Any legitimate company will give you time to verify their contact information and then call them.
· If someone contacts you and demands payment right then – especially demanding payment in bitcoin or prepaid gift cards, it’s a scam.
“Often, these scammers are out of the country. So, we will dig into them as deep as possible. If we find they are over in Europe or some other place, we will turn it over to the FBI who then turns it over to Interpol,” Ofiara said. “A good criminal makes it very difficult for us to find them. Technology today is not made to help law enforcement.
“If we can confirm it was a fraud, normally the banks will make you whole again. You don’t often lose money when it comes to a bank fraud. Now your identity theft, that’s something completely different.”
Scammers will often ask you for your account number and other details. If you have done business with a legitimate company before, they already have your information.
“They have everything. If they’re calling you, they know your account number. They may ask you for a confirmation number (if they’re calling you about an order),” Ofiara said.
Microsoft Scam
Another scam is the “Microsoft” scam. People are notified that they have a virus on their computer and are asked to let a “Microsoft employee” log into the victim’s computer to fix it.
“Do not do that. That is not how Microsoft operates,” Ofiara said. “What the scammers want is access to your computer and then anything that’s on your computer – personal documents, personal information – they can put a reader on your computer so that anything you do they are now recording. Or, they can lock your computer up and ask it to be ransomed off and, again, pay in bitcoin because it’s not traceable.
“Microsoft is not going to send you a message saying your Windows is out of date, update now. They have automatic updates, so it does it with you wanting to update or not. Odds are, if you get a text or a pop-up (on your device) saying you need to update or your Windows has expired, your computer already has a virus. So, you may want to have it cleaned. Take it to a professional or, if you’re comfortable, clean it out yourself.”
Text Message Scams
Ofiara said his phone gets hit all the time with text messages – retail stores, PayPal and others – where he does not even have an account.
“Messages from John from Walmart saying ‘Your order has been delayed’, or a myriad of things. If you get an unsolicited text asking you to click on a link, do not click on it. They’re just randomly pushing. If you get an unsolicited text, delete it. If you do order something, you can contact that company from a different route to make sure it’s true,” Ofiara said.
But just checking the phone number on caller ID is not necessarily a guarantee that it is legitimate.
“That doesn’t really mean anything. I can spoof numbers and make it look like I’m calling from any company, anywhere,” Ofiara said. “Look online on a separate device and make sure it is a legitimate number, or, if you find a completely different number, you’re going to know it was a scam.”
Another concern if you click on the text is that while you have compromised your phone, you have also potentially compromised your other devices.
“If you charge your phone on the power cord to your computer, that virus now goes from your phone into your computer,” Ofiara said. “Once you click on that link, you’re going to exponentially more (messages) because your data is now being sold actively online to other criminals.”
The Grandparents Scam
The “grandparents scam” stopped for a while but is now coming back.
In this scam, someone will call an elderly person’s home, sometimes in the middle of the night, and tell them that their grandchild has been arrested. In order to have their grandchild released from jail, grandparents are being asked to pay a fine over the phone.
“They focus on the elderly, who don’t recognize the voice at 2 a.m. They just hear ‘my grandson’s been arrested; how do you need me to pay this?”
The caller, posing as law enforcement, then tells them to pay and tries to rush the payment.
“You cannot pay in bitcoin or prepaid Visa cards. It does not work that way,” Ofiara said. “If someone gets called in the middle of the night and the caller says it’s from their grandson or granddaughter, ask questions; just don’t take it on face value. A lot of times you wake up, you’re not 100 percent cognizant of what’s going on and they bombard you with information. And you hear just a snippet of your ‘grandchild’s’ voice and now it’s Officer Friendly from whatever police department.
“If your kid or grandkid has been arrested, he is safe. The jail is a safe place. If nothing else, he can sit there for a few minutes while you get your wits about you. And then re-address the situation,” Ofiara said. “If you’re concerned, you can call the police department or sheriff’s office in Oakland County. You can look up online to see what inmates are in jail.”
“But don’t get nervous immediately and think ‘Oh my lord, I have to do this because he’s in jail and they’re never going to let him out.’ That’s not the way it works. You’re in jail, you pay a fine if there is a fine and then we let you go. It’s not adversarial by any stretch of the imagination,” he said.