The King County Sheriff’s Office is warning of a new scam involving Bitcoin:
This is a new twist on an old scam. Now fraudsters are asking to be paid in Bitcoin!
Police say that on Mar. 30, 2021 at 9:58 a.m., deputies were dispatched to Covington City Hall where a resident wished to report she’d been the victim of fraud.
The victim explained to deputies that she received a call from an alleged U.S. Marshal who explained the victim’s social security number had been compromised. Naturally, this phony Marshal said the only way for her to fix it was to send him the codes, via text, for $7800 worth of Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
When the greedy, scamming, fraudster Marshal called back and demanded more Bitcoin, or he’d arrest her, the victim realized she’d been scammed. When the victim contacted the coin companies, she could only recover $280.00.
This is often the sad reality for victims of these scams. The scammers spoof phone numbers and hide their identities so they are very hard to find. And, lest you think it can’t happen to you, they are very persuasive and often aggressive.
If you receive any phone call or text of this nature, please do not reply and report it to your local law enforcement agency.
