Crime & Safety
Cops: Caller Hacks Computer, Threatens to Burn Down Man's House
Caller demanded $99 after remotely accessing New Providence resident's computer, police said.
A Walnut Street resident's computer was hacked and callers threatened his computer would be crashed, his house set on fire and phone line damaged if he didn't pay $99 in an apparent Internet scam, New Providence Police said.
According to police, the victim received a call on Dec. 6 from an unknown man who said his computer was running slow and it would crash if it wasn't fixed. The victim turned on his computer and discovered someone was remotely logged in and the caller said he needed to pay $99 to have it fixed, police said.
A woman then got on the phone and advised the victim he needed to go to a Western Union and send money to a location in India, police said. When the victim said he couldn't do that, the caller threatened to crash the computer, burn his home and damage his phone line, police said. The victim then hung up.
It was unknown how the victim's computer was accessed, police said. Police advise residents to have up-to-date protection services for their computers.
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