Online hackers target Albert Lea - KXLT - Fox 47 Rochester MN News, Weather and Sports

ALBERT LEA, Minn. (FOX 47) --  A woman in Albert Lea was scammed out of more than a thousand dollars when someone claiming to be a police officer called her and demanded she make a full payment on a loan she had taken out through Greenback Loans, an online lender.

According to the Mower County Sheriff's Office, the loan came from a legitimate lender, but computer systems containing people's personal loan information was hacked.  The hackers impersonated a police officer and threatened the woman with arrest multiple times.  They instructed the woman to send pre-paid credit cards in the amount of her loans. 

Chief Deputy Mark May said police offers do not call on loans.

"We don't call people up and say 'pay us off by this time frame,'" May said.  "But a group of individuals is doing that and threatening people that they're going to go to jail if they don't pay off these loans that they've taken out."

To protect against fraud, May advises people to call their local law enforcement center if they receive a suspicious phone call from anyone claiming to be a police officer.