The Greenfield Police Department is warning the community regarding computer scams.

In recent months there have been several occasions involving persons being scammed or tricked by messages on their personal computers.  During online activity, a message appears on the screen.

A common message is as follows;  

WARNING - Do not restart your computer. Your computer is disabled. Please contact Microsoft. Access block security reason for this computer. Please contact support immediately. A Microsoft engineer will help you solve the problem over the phone.  Directions are given with a provided telephone number. 

Once contact is made, the victim is informed that their bank account has been hacked. The suspect then remotely accesses the computer. Once accessed, the suspect tells you some type of criminal activity is being funded via the victim's bank. The suspect then proceeds to explain that due to a criminal investigation money needs to be transferred or paid to assist in the investigation. 

The payment is required to be sent via a bitcoin transaction. The victim is informed to withdraw cash and take it to an ATM that accepts currency and exchanges it to bitcoin. 

An image is sent via text message with a QR code.

At this point, your money is gone.

An example of the text message:

If this happens to you, please do the following:

1.  Do not call the number on your screen.

2.  Do not "X" out or close out program.

3.  Immediately restart your computer

4.  If page will not close or computer will not turn off, remove power (unplug or remove battery).

5.  Wait approximately five minutes and restart computer.

6. If warning remains on screen at start up, contact the police department