Once again the Bermuda Police Service (BPS) would like to remind members of the public – especially senior citizens – to remain vigilant regarding phone calls, e-mails and other correspondence from unknown persons that attempt to obtain personal information or other sensitive data.

The BPS Organised and Economic Crime Department (OECD) has yet again received reports from local residents of telephone calls from unknown persons claiming to represent global technology companies such as Microsoft and Apple, as well as local communications companies Logic and North Rock.

However, these deceptive calls are not genuine and are believed to come from overseas.

The intent of the unknown callers is to convince contacted persons to provide remote access to their computer – using the excuse that the computer has some type of problem, which the caller states they will fix – in order to log in to the unsuspecting resident’s electronic banking, where funds are eventually stolen.

In the event an unknown caller’s computer access request is challenged or refused, the fraudster is known to make threats – including suggesting that the contacted person could be sent to jail for not cooperating.

If you are unsure whether or not a local business is contacting you for legitimate reasons, hang up on the unknown caller and then call the business in question to verify.

But in general, it is strongly recommended that such unsolicited phone calls, e-mails etc. be ignored.

Residents are further reminded that personal information, including access details of their home computer(s), is valuable and that this information should never be relayed over the internet or phone to unknown persons.

Any incidents of suspected internet fraud should be reported to the Financial Crime Unit on telephone number 247-1757 or via the e-mail address fraud2@bps.bm.