A local woman who was scammed by callers claiming her computer was being used for illegal tasks wants others to be aware of the scam and avoid a similar fate.

The woman said her husband had hung up several times on callers with an Indian accent because he could not understand them. When she answered, she understood them to say that her computer was being used for “illegal things” on the “dark web.”

The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets, overlay networks that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations or authorization to access.

The caller instructed her to click on a file, then claimed a file that she saw was proof someone was using her computer to obtain otehrs’ Social Security numbers, and bank information, and that her computer had been hacked from users in Russia, China and North Korea.

The caller ID showed “1-800 GEEKS,” and the caller claimed that Microsoft had contacted him.

She agreed to pay him $199 to remove the files, then discovered he had charged an additional $149 to her card. She has since disputed the charges.

“The name of what they charged to my card was secure.tech.lane.com.,” she said.

“I’m from the city,” she said. “I don’t scare very easily, but this is surely a scam.”