DENVER (KDVR) — A California man was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 3 years of probation after pleading guilty to scamming an elderly couple in Larimer County out of $30,000 and trying to scam them out of $70,000 more, according to the Larimer County Sheriff's Office.
Arashdeep Dhaliwal, 28, was also ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution to the victims.
The victims, an 85-year-old man and an 83-year-old woman called law enforcement in March 2024.
They reported that they were tricked by a popup on their computer that told them to contact "Microsoft Support Services" to resolve a fake issue.
According to the sheriff's office, Dhaliwal traveled to the victim's home and collected $30,000 from them. Days later, he reached out asking for $70,000 more.
This was to supposedly resolve a fake "bank account problem." The couple tried to withdraw the money from several banks, all of which denied the requests after suspecting fraud.
Dhaliwal then told them to obtain the $70,000 in gold bars and told them he would come back to collect them. After this, the couple became suspicious and contacted the sheriff's office.
Investigators waited with the victims and arrested Dhaliwal in April when he returned for the gold.
In October, Dhaliwal pleaded guilty to one count of theft against an at-risk person. Two other charges he had been facing were dropped.
According to the sheriff's office, Dhaliwal's 30-day jail sentence will be served on work release and the probation has been transferred to Washington.
Investigators said Dhaliwal may have perpetrated similar incidents in other areas. Anyone with information about other scams involving him were urged to contact the Larimer County Sheriff's Office or their local law enforcement agency.
Microsoft Support has said in the past that it will not contact people to offer unsolicited support.
They also have said that real error and warning messages from Microsoft never include a phone number, so popups and error messages that ask people to call a number are not legitimate.
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