3 days ago
Police officer thwarts apparent Bitcoin scam at Massachusetts gas station
A police officer in Waltham, Massachusetts is being called a hero after he managed to thwart an apparent Bitcoin scam.
On Thursday, Officer Dan Collins was off-duty and headed to an assignment when he stopped at a gas station. While there, police said he noticed an "elderly" man carrying $12,000 in cash to a Bitcoin machine while talking on the phone.
Police said Collins recognized what was going on and quickly intervened, identifying himself as a police officer. The caller talking to the man was pretending to be from "Apple Customer Support" and the "FTC" and was telling the man to deposit the $12,000 into the Bitcoin machine to "fix a computer virus."
Collins managed to stop the transaction and called the police to assist in the investigation.
Waltham Police are reminding people that companies and government agencies will never ask for payment in cryptocurrency or Bitcoin and if a caller does, it's a scam. They said something feels suspicious, hang up and call the company or agency directly with their verified number.
Just this week, 13 people were charged by federal investigators for their role in a scam that targeted hundreds of elderly people, many in Massachusetts. The U.S. attorney said the average age of the victims was 84 years old and they were often roped in by a caller pretending to be their grandchild. The scam was stopped by Uber, whose drivers appeared to have been unknowing participants in the scam and flagged the FBI when they got suspicious.
