The Pearl River County Sheriff is warning the public after a resident fell victim to fraud.

On January 4, the Sheriff’s Office received a report of Cyber Internet Theft. The complainant advised that she received an alert on her laptop computer that it had been compromised.

In order to repair the computer, she needed to purchase $3,700 in gift cards and contact a telephone number provided to her.

After purchasing the cards, she called the phone number and gave them the numbers on the cards.

The woman thought about what she had just done, and realized she had been scammed.

The Sheriff is now warning others to never purchase gift cards for any incident like this. When the thieves get the card numbers, they are immediately cashed. The recovery of this money is usually impossible because it is sent to a foreign country within minutes.

If you receive an attempted fraud like this, please call local law enforcement.

The FBI has a website dedicated to cybercrime. You can contact them at IC3.gov.