A Lincoln County resident was taken for thousands in the crypto-currency BitCoin last week as part of a scam.
Sherrif’s Lieutenant Tim Fischer says you can expect more scams like this in the future as thieves continue to evolve their game.
“A lady got a message pop up on her computer saying her computer was compromised, call this number. She called the number and the person who answered claimed to be from Microsoft”
Fischer says it’s no different than a gift card scam.
Once you provide the information for the crypto to the scammers, it’s likely gone forever.
Fischer says it’s another reminder to always have you guard up when it comes to unsolicited or urgent requests for payment.
“Any entity, first off they’re not going to contact you by phone, and they’re not going to ask for Bitcoin. They’re going to have some sort of monetary exchange, some legalize paperwork if you will.”
Fischer says while the concept of crypto-currency may be new to some, the scammers are just re-inventing the old trick of getting you to pay for something with a gift card, to make the funds impossible to track once they are turned over.
“If you purchase those coins, they apparently give you a QR code that you can scan, and then provide that scan code to the scammer. Once that code is processed that money is gone almost instantaneously”
Fischer says just like with people demanding payment through gift cards or other questionable means if someone asks for bitcoin, it’s best to hang up and check the validity of their claim through other means such as calling the business or government office directly if you have to.
