Leisa Howell is still reeling from a recent scam that cost her $5,000.
“I felt so used, I felt humiliated. I felt I felt violated,” she told Global News.
Despite being embarrassed, Howell came forward with her story so that others can avoid the same mistake.
“I’d rather be used for good,” she said. “I was used and now I want to be used for good.”
On Feb. 14, Howell had an important zoom meeting. But when she opened her computer, it was frozen other than a flashing message.
Little did she know at the time that her computer had been hacked.
“It’s just flashing ‘Call Microsoft, do not shut your computer off,'” said Howell. “My service had been interrupted, call Microsoft right away.”
Howell did just that, using the phone number provided on the screen and that’s when her ordeal started.
The woman on the other line gained her trust by fixing her computer, then told Howell that while making the repairs, she noticed her bank account had been compromised.
“I kind of panicked even more and she said ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get a representative to help you. We’ll walk you through the steps and how to remedy this.'”
According to Howell, another person then got on the line, a so-called bank representative, and told her there was a $4,500 charge pending for something called PornHub.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t even know. How? That wasn’t me,'” Howell said.
The scammer then told her the only way to stop the charge is to spend an equal amount of money on her credit card.
“This is where it got really confusing,” she said.
“He made it sound like we had a window of time to settle this before the charge had gone through. It was like a pre-authorization and he explained to me what that meant.”
Howell said she was instructed to buy $5,000 worth of Apple gift cards.
And while she did so at three different stores, the scammer stayed on the phone with her the entire time.
She then scratched the code at the back of each card and gave it to the fraudster.
“It wasn’t until she got home when the scammer told her another PornHub charge was pending, this time for $6,000.
She said it was at that point she realized it was all a scam.
Howell contacted her bank and credit card company immediately. But because she participated in the scam by buying gift cards, there’s nothing the financial institution can do.
She also reported the fraud to the Kelowna RCMP.
“We are aware of that particular scam. And, sadly, we receive reports about a variety of scams and that’s just one of them,” said Kelowna RCMP Cpl. Tammy Lobb.
Lobb said the single biggest piece of advice she can give is to not act hastily.
“They have that feeling of instant panic, ‘Oh, I need to do what this is telling me to do. I need to provide this information or else something is going to happen.’ Don’t act on that, take some time, do your research,” Lobb said.
Howell wishes she hadn’t let panic drive her actions, and hopes others learn from her mistake.
“It is what it is, and, like I said, I’d rather use this experience to grow and to share.”
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