$30K Scam Hits Western Springs Man: Cops

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – A Western Springs man was scammed out of $30,000 last month while he thought he was dealing with Best Buy's Geek Squad, local police said.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained the police report.

About a year ago, the 77-year-old man, who lives in the 1300 block of Walnut Avenue, brought his computer to Geek Squad because he felt his computer wasn't operating at capacity, police said.

He was told it was fine, so he picked it up.

Late last month, the man received a text from someone claiming to be with Geek Squad, asking to renew his protection service for $500, police said.

The resident agreed to do so and was given a QR code to scan at an ATM, which he did.

Upon doing that, the resident said $20,000 was deposited into his bank account from a bank account that he believed was Geek Squad's, police said.

The man was then instructed to deposit $19,500 from his account to a bitcoin ATM at 55th Street and Wolf Road. He followed through.

Then he did so five more times, at $2,000 each.

The man told police that he believed someone at Geek Squad leaked his IP address and computer information because he did not authorize any of the money transfers.

The man said he had since closed the bank account in question.

Earlier this year, Western Springs police received a report that a local woman was scammed out of $100,000 to $200,000. It was a scam that the woman told officers started with a Best Buy employee.