Prattville Police Department
SCAM ALERT
There’s another scam making its way into our area involving a pop-up windows that claim your device has been compromised and that there is the presence of child sexual abuse material (aka “child pornography”). A phone number or QR tag to Google/Microsoft/tech support company/insert three letter government agency will be present for you to contact the “agents” to discuss your “situation”, which typically includes money through gift cards and/or cryptocurrency. They may even sprinkle in some money laundering claims and if you don’t comply with payment, you will be “arrested on the spot”. If you start to get wise to their scheme, they will then throw in the old scare/intimidation tactics and start to yell/scream/cuss at you to get you to comply.
This is just another version of the old warrant scam and an exercise on to be very careful on what websites you visit and what apps you install on your phones. Many apps will have ads on them that may take you to harmful sites or redirect you to scam pop-ups like this one. While it is difficult to “hack” a cell phone, it is certainly possible, especially if the “agent” directs you to install a remote desktop app. If you haven’t done what the pop-up says you did, then it’s a scam and you can disregard it.
THIS GOES DOUBLE/TRIPLE/QUADRUPLE/INFINITY FOR PARENTS/GUARDIANS WHO LET THEIR KIDS HAVE MOBILE DEVICES WITH NO CONTENT MONITORING IN PLACE!!!!!!
If you get this type of pop-up, do NOT click on anything in the pop-up or call any numbers. It’s fake, so simply close the window and follow your browser instructions on how to remove your recent browsing history. You could bring your device to your local law enforcement agency to see what’s going on, but 99 times out of 100, it’s from overseas. If you DO end up making a payment because of this, then definitely file a report with the police and with IC3.gov (Internet Crime Complaint Center with the FBI).
No one or no law enforcement agency is going to scare you into paying money for an alleged crime, especially for online child sexual abuse, using a pop-up window alert. You get to find that out directly…when a search warrant team with SWAT shows up at your front door. Please don’t fall for these scams, ask someone you trust (you can even come to the PD if you’re on the phone with these people) to get a second opinion on if it’s real or not.
As always, stay vigilant on the Internet and call us if you should need us.
