The cryptocurrency market has witnessed an array of hacks and scams over the years. Despite increased scrutiny and regulations, scammers haven’t taken a step back. More recently, a woman from Colorado fell prey to a major scam that cost her $6,000 in Bitcoin.
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Scammer Posed As Law Enforcement Official
According to reports, the woman received a call from perpetrators posing as law enforcement officers last week. The fraudsters threatened the victim with arrest for allegedly skipping jury service. The victim followed the scammer’s instructions to pay a fictitious warrant using a Bitcoin ATM because she thought she had missed a jury summons.
When she called Denver Police to verify the transaction, she found she had been duped. The patrol report says that even though her bank has been informed of the scam, “it’s not likely the money will be recovered.”
But they were able to stop the completion of another $4,000 transfer that was in progress. In addition to the monetary loss, the victim was also forced to give out her personal information.
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This isn’t the first time scammers have used this trick to dupe individuals. Several reports of similar instances have occurred throughout the state. Speaking about the same, an officer said,
“A deputy will never call anyone to notify them of a warrant for their arrest and then offer to clear it in exchange for gift cards, wire transfers, or Bitcoin.”
Looking Into The BTC Market
It looks like this scam occurred during Bitcoin’s peak price. The asset almost reclaimed its all-time high of $73,750 last week. But at press time, BTC was trading at $68,763.25 with no major upticks or falls over the past 24 hours.
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Despite this correction, the overall market remained bullish about the asset’s potential spike.