Bainbridge blotter | Pop-up scammer

Selected reports from the Bainbridge Island Police Department blotter.

THURSDAY, JULY 20

9:54 p.m. A 38-year-old Bainbridge Island woman called police to report someone had broken into her apartment. Nothing appeared to have been taken.

The woman had left the apartment earlier, she said, leaving the windows open “a crack” to ventilate the place. Upon her return, she saw the window screen was on the ground and the window had been closed completely.

Also, some decorative items she kept on the windowsill had been moved to a nearby table.

FRIDAY, JULY 21

11:06 a.m. A 46-year-old Bainbridge Island woman called police to report an instance of computer trespass. She’d received a pop-up message on her laptop, she said, telling her that her computer was frozen. The message provided a number supposedly belonging to a Microsoft helpline, which the woman called.

She spoke to a woman apparently with customer service for about half an hour, she said, and provided her with her passwords. Realizing she was being scammed, the woman then hung up and shut off her laptop. Later, it turned on by itself so she removed the battery.

She spoke to her bank and there was no damage or suspicious activity to her accounts.