Technology and scams go together hand in hand, and unfortunately, this scam cost a Stateline family over $2,550 in a matter of a seconds. Don't let it happen to you.

Often when someone gets scammed, your first thought is how embarrassed you are and are afraid to share your story for fear of ridicule. This is not the case for Northern Illinois residents Mick and Sherri Cutler of Marseilles, Illinois who shared their encounter on Facebook as a warning to everyone.

Even people who think they are too smart to be scammed, can get get scammed and Cutler does not want the experience his wife, Sherri, had yesterday, to happen to anyone else. Sherri, by the way, also has stage four cancer.

Cutler's wife, Sherri, formerly of Genoa, was working on her computer when a popup message from "Microsoft' appeared. The message informed her that there was a Trojan horse virus was present on her computer and that she needed to call Microsoft to 'restore her system.' The popup message supplied a phone number which Sherri called. That's when the real trouble began.

Sherri gave the scammer her credit card number and a agreed to a charge of $212.49.  Now, we all know that if you are scammed using your credit card, you can dispute the charge with your credit card company, so long as you use a credit card, not a debit card. Scammers know this as well, but this scammer took the deception much further

Sherri noticed her computer was working fine for a couple of days. Two days later Sherri received a phone call from the scammer, with an 'unknown number' on her caller ID. The caller told her the problem was not fixed. Mick Cutler tells it this way:

They asked her who she banked with. She reluctantly told them and asked them why they needed that info. They stated that they were a 3rd party and wanted to issue a credit back but could only do it to her personal bank account and not our credit card. He told her to go onto her online banking, which she did, and was asked if she could see the refund. She saw and told them that a refund of $3000 had been given and not $300 like he had stated. Within seconds, all of our accounts showed a balance of $0.00.

To make matter worse, the scammer then told Sherri over the phone that if she did not wire him $2,550 immediately, he would just take all the money in all our accounts.

The scammer insisted that Sherri stay on the phone and ordered her not to hang up under any circumstance. He then instructed her to go to Walmart to purchase a Moneygram and to have her send it to China using what Cutler refers to as the "10 minutes feature." This system allows the sender of money to electronically send money to a recipient.

Now keep in mind, Sherri's accounts were never compromised, but the scammer led Sherri to believe this was the case. When Sherri returned home, her accounts were okay, but unfortunately, she was out the $2550 she wired to the man in China.

This entire process keep Sherri on the run from for about five hours according to Mick. Mick says:

Sherri did this reluctantly because she knew that had already accessed all of accounts. She had even told him that she had stage 4 cancer, looking for him to maybe ease off on her. He showed no remorse. I could not still get a hold of her and nor could anybody else. My neighbor told me that her car was not in the garage either and told me to try her phone again a little later. Now family and friends can't reach her because she is being held captive on her phone by this a**hole.

You would think that after the scammer got his money, the problem would stop right there. Nope! Shortly after Sherri returned home the scammer called her back and 'apologized'. The scammer told Sherri that he could have taken all her money, but chose not to do so because she had cancer.

Mick wants people to know this story and urges people to

Please be careful online and on the phone and learn from our terrible ordeal which Sherri is still going through right now.

The Cutler's have since contacted the police and the credit card company to report the incident.  By the way, today the scammer was back at it again teh Cutler's are still receiving calls from the scammers. Mick says:

The hacker is still trying to get more info from Sherri this afternoon!!!! Keeps telling her to input a numerical code on her computer to a program she has already deleted

You can read more about Mick and Sherri's ordeal HERE.

.

More From Rockford's New Country Q98.5