Wood County Sheriff’s Department Warns Against Bitcoin Scams

by James · March 31, 2023

WOOD COUNTY, WI (OnFocus) – The Wood County Sheriff’s Department is warning the public about a widespread scam in which scammers pose as a local bank representative or a representative from an online store to extort money. (RELATED STORY – Fraud is on the Rise: How to Protect Yourself)

No bank, business or government body will ever contact you and ask you to come and withdraw money from your account or ask you to put those funds into a cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) machine.

These machines are often found at gas stations or convenience stores across our community and country. Cryptocurrency machines allow customers to buy cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin for a fee by inserting US currency into the machine and receiving cryptocurrency in a digital wallet.

Please note that cryptocurrency transactions are not protected or regulated in the same way as those conducted through a bank, making both cryptocurrencies and ATMs very attractive to fraudsters. There are legitimate purposes for consumers to purchase cryptocurrency through the machines, but individuals should exercise caution as with any financial transaction.

If you receive a call from someone claiming to be a victim of a scam, be very careful as this is almost always a scam. The caller will represent themselves as a representative of a company or organization and will pressure you to pay them in some form. They will often ask you to allow them to access your computer remotely, and the end result is that they will be on the phone with you while you pick up a payment method to send them, whether it’s a gift card, money transfer, or cryptocurrency transfer. The caller will pressure and threaten you to stay on the phone with them, this is always a sign of a scam.

On March 29, 2023, the Wood County Sheriff’s Department was contacted by an individual who had recently been defrauded by an individual claiming to be from their local bank who said they were working with the FBI. A sum of $9,000 dollars was withdrawn from the victim’s bank account and then into a cryptocurrency machine in the City of Wisconsin Rapids, Wood County, Wisconsin.

On March 30, 2023, the Wood County Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant on the cryptocurrency machine, the money was placed as evidence and will be returned to our local victim. Fortunately for these victims, $9,000 in cash was recovered by the quick actions of the Wood County Sheriff’s Department’s investigative team.

Unfortunately, this is often not the case and victims can lose significant amounts of money because these funds/transactions are not federally insured.

If you have fallen victim to one of these scams, please contact your local police as soon as possible. There are many resources available online with information about common scams, and don’t hesitate to contact your local police authority if you are concerned that you are being scammed. We would always rather spend a few minutes on the phone with you answering your questions than hear that you have fallen victim to a scam.