In a state of near panic, Chapman, 80, of West Roxbury, called the number and talked with a man who identified himself as a Microsoft employee and who brought into the conversation a woman who said she was with Chase.
Their knowledgeable, professional manner heartened Chapman, enough so that he meticulously followed the instructions they gave him, believing it a way to avert financial disaster.
Within minutes of hanging up, Chapman was driving to Macy’s in Braintree, with instructions to buy nine $500 gift cards. By the time he was done carrying out their directives, Chapman had racked up $8,500 in charges on his Chase credit card for 17 gift cards, including seven at Lowe’s in Weymouth and one at a CVS in Quincy.
After each purchase, Chapman had returned to his car, scratched the backs of the cards, and read the serial numbers over the phone to the “Microsoft guy,” just as he had been instructed.
It was, of course, a ruthless scam, perpetrated on a trusting soul. A team of criminals had hacked into Chapman’s computer to shock and frighten him with a false warning, and then exploited his extreme distress to manipulate him into doing things that look, in retrospect, quite foolish.
Chapman at first didn’t discuss with his family what he was doing. The next day, when a family member learned of the…
