Two Angelenos have been arrested for allegedly hacking the computer of an elderly Ventura resident by using a “Norton virus” scam.
On Thursday afternoon, police received a report that a computer had been hacked, and officers “quickly learned that the elderly victim had withdrawn a large amount of money as a result of a ‘Norton Virus’ scam,” the Ventura Police Department said in a news release.
The hackers set a pickup time of 11:30 a.m. Friday, and when Zhiyang Yan, 37, and Wenjun Liu, 39, arrived to the 2000 block of Channel Drive, Liu took the cash and both were then arrested, police said.
The two face charges of elder abuse, grand theft, theft by false pretenses, criminal conspiracy and possession of stolen property, and they were booked into the Ventura County Main Jail.
Both are being held in lieu of $400,000 bail, and they’re due to appear in court Wednesday afternoon.
Police remind the public that computer scams are on the rise, and they include “anti-virus scams, tech support scams, government impersonation scams, and investment scams.”
“Please do not access Norton virus computer pop ups, text messages, emails, and telephone calls from unknown numbers that are asking for money to be deposited in other accounts or money that must be picked up from unknown subjects,” police said.
If you have information about a possible case of computer fraud, you’re asked to call police at 805-339-4400.
