A Center Grove area woman kept her money but had her computer locked up after a call from a scammer.
The woman was contacted two weeks ago by someone who said his name was Rex Johnson. The man told the woman that for $199 he would clean up her computer remotely. The woman paid the money and was told to visit a website that would allow the man access to her computer, according to a Johnson County Sheriff’s Office report.
Last weekend, the woman told the man she wanted to cancel the agreement. The man said he would refund the woman’s money but that he had returned too much, $1,999 instead of $199. The woman was told to send the extra $1,801 from Western Union to someone named Geraldine Price, the report said.
Western Union officials told the woman they had received multiple requests for that name and that this was a scam and to call her bank and police. The woman’s bank told her that no money was missing from her accounts, but now her computer is locked up, and she is unable to use it, the report said.
The man claiming to be Johnson called again while the woman was talking to police. The caller refused to give his employer’s name and kept asking to speak to the woman. A sheriff’s deputy told the man to stop calling, the report said.
