Des Plaines woman conned in computer scam, police say

A Des Plaines woman was conned out of money through an online scam, police said Friday.

The woman reported the crime Wednesday. She said she had received a message on her computer that it had been hacked and that she should call a company purporting to be Microsoft to resolve the problem.

The woman called the company and was told the repair would cost $2,500, and that she needed to send the money using a bitcoin machine. The woman performed that transaction and then was told she needed to withdraw $16,000 from a different bank for housing repairs, police said.

Once again, she was told to send the money using a bitcoin machine.

The woman eventually became suspicious, police said.