Hingham, MA - An 89 year old Hingham woman fell victim to a computer scam and lost $21,000. 

On February 3, 2026 a resident called police to report she had been scammed earlier in the day. The woman told Officers while she was online she received a notification or a pop-up message that claimed to be from Microsoft along with a phone number to call. She called that number and the scammer claimed he was a Microsoft employee. He said that her bank account had been hacked by a "Russian gaming or pornography group" and that $21,000 had been taken out of her account. 

The scammer told her to call her bank's fraud number and gave her a specific phone number to call. He claimed it was her banks fraud department. She called that number and spoke with another scammer who told her to make a wire transfer to a "federal organization" in order to track the suspects and recover her stolen money. She also sent a picture of her driver's license to the scammers at their request and wired the money. She and her family are working with her actual bank to attempt to recover the money.    

Remember, never click on pop-up boxes, or unsolicited ads or emails. They may can contain viruses or install programs that allow scammers to access your computer. Also, if you need to call a bank, a financial institution or organization always use the phone number (or email) directly from your card, actual bank statements or from the actual website. ### Contact P.I.O. Lt. Steven Dearth