2 men accused of scamming Lebanon County couple out of $24,000
Police in Lebanon County say they arrested two men who scammed a couple out of $24,000 and tried to get thousands of dollars more.
According to North Lebanon Township police, the victims got a pop-up message on their computer from who they thought was Microsoft. The message claimed their bank account was compromised.
The victims were told that in order to protect their money, they had to send $24,000 through a Bitcoin machine.
After the victims did that, the suspects allegedly said they needed an additional $30,000. The victims were informed someone would come to the house to pick up the money.
Police set up a surveillance detail on Tuesday. When the car arrived, the victims threw the money into the vehicle through an open window.
Officers stopped the car a short distance away and arrested the driver and passenger.
Hemal Arvindbhai Patel, 25, and Digvijaysinh Jagdishsinh Chauhan, 21, both of Iselin, New Jersey, are charged with theft by deception and criminal conspiracy to commit theft by deception.
Protect yourself
The News 8 On Your Side team has reported on scams like this before.
If you get a pop-up message on your computer, do the exact opposite of what the message tells you.
Do not call any phone numbers that appear on your screen.
First, try rebooting your computer. If the message doesn't go away, you need to contact a computer repair shop to remove it.
A major red flag is the request for Bitcoin. The FBI has put out a warning about scammers sending victims to cryptocurrency ATMs.
Video below: The No. 4 scam of 2023 was the cryptocurrency scam
