The growth of crypto scams is occurring at an unprecedented rate. This can be attested to by a woman in the region of Sudbury, for example, who recently entered a scam that could have gone quite far.
Crypto Scams Are Becoming Too Common
The woman was approached by someone posing as a police officer named Scott Nix. The person convinced her that she needed to empty her bank account and send him the money via bitcoin so that he could verify the funds were real and help her stay out of jail. Feeling the fear of spending time behind bars, the woman complied and withdrew $4,500 from her account. She handed it over to the alleged cop, though she wound up parting with the money permanently.
Detective Lt. Wayne Shurling – who was put in charge of the case – explained in an interview:
We’ve been getting killed with these things (bitcoin scams).
Apparently, this kind of thing is happening more and more, and people are really in danger of falling for strange and unusual tactics being utilized to garner funds. The woman in question initially began receiving calls on her phone from an unknown number. Not long after that, she got a buzz from the Sudbury Police Department’s business line, so she decided to call back and see what was going on.
Shurling said that the number had been spoofed and commented:
This incident went on for several hours.
The person on the other line identified himself as police chief Scott Nix. He mentioned that a package had been sent out of the country and had been intercepted. Authorities discovered both cash and drugs within the package, and he mentioned that the return address on the package was hers. He said police were on their way to arrest her, though she could avoid prison time if she was willing to pay a BTC fine.
She was instructed to go to a local bitcoin ATM and make the transaction happen, though halfway through, she realized that the entire situation smelled funny. She only lost $4,500 before realizing what was going on, and despite the loss, she is breathing a sigh of relief that things weren’t as bad as they could have been.
Sudbury has been a prominent region for crypto scams as of late, as the case involving the woman was the fourth recently reported one to occur in that area. In each of the situations, all the victims were sent to the same bitcoin ATM, suggesting the fraudsters weren’t even smart enough to change their routine up a little bit so that they wouldn’t get caught in the future.
Where Do the Funds Go?
Commenting on what happens to money garnered through scams, Shurling said:
The money is going offshore. Once it’s sent, it’s almost impossible to get back.
Source: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/sudbury-is-a-new-haven-for-crypto-scams/