BITCOIN ATM ERROR POSSIBLY PREVENTED A $20,000 SCAM IN FAIRFIELD GLADE
On Friday last week, the Fairfield Glade Police Department received a call from a woman in regards to a scam. The woman said her husband was still on the phone with a scammer. Upon hearing the information, Deputy Fatima Pena went to the Camelot Lane area to speak to the woman and her husband who was still on the phone with the scammer and talking about $10,000.
Pena got on the phone and told the scammer who she was and that they wouldn’t be getting any money, that’s when the scammer hung up.
The couple told Pena the scam all started with an email they received the day before that seemed to be from Geek Squad. The couple did, in fact, have the services of Geek Squad, but the charges weren’t right. A charge of around $600.
The husband called the number on the email to contact Geek Squad and was told they had taken out the money out of his account. He was asked who his bank was and he told them Bank of America. The man said he went online to check his account and the scammers had somehow obtained access to his computer which was now showing $20,000.00 in his account that was not his.
The scammers told them that was an accident and asked if they could please send the money back.
The couple took out $19,400.00 from their account subtracting the $599.99 from the money and had it with them. The scammers told them someone from Geek Squad would come to pick up the money, but later a call from them said their ‘driver’ had an accident and wouldn’t be able to show up. Asking if the couple could send the money via a Bitcoin machine.
The husband stated he and his wife went to the Bitcoin Machine at Good Times and tried to make a crypto wallet, however, thankfully the machine experienced an error and prevented the transaction from giving a receipt and thus kept some of the money from going through.
Pena quickly tried to contact TBI Agent Kevin Reagan, asking if the error might have meant some of the money didn’t go through and could still be in the victim’s crypto wallet. Deputy Pena then told the victim that most likely their money didn’t get sent to the scammer and his bank likely moved the money from his savings account to his checking account, making it appear they added money into his account.
The victim was then advised to contact his bank and make a report.
TBI Agent Reagen said he would be tracking the Bitcoin funds once he received the information, and Investigator Bo Kollros was also contacted in regards to the scam.