Texas Police Rescue Elderly Woman from $40,000 Bitcoin ATM Scam
In its official announcement, the White Settlement Police Department (WSPD) confirmed that it rescued an elderly woman from falling into a scammer’s trap. A bystander informed the WSPD that a woman was depositing a large amount of funds at a Bitcoin ATM located on South Cherry Lane.
WSPD Saves Elderly Woman From Scam
The troubled customer claimed to have overheard the elder woman being instructed to deposit lumps of money on a telephone call. The customer immediately informed the WSPD of the incident where she suspected the woman was being conned.
The WSPD arrived at the scene and intercepted the woman from proceeding with the transfer. Upon interrogating the victim, the WSPD stated that the elderly woman claimed to have gotten in trouble with Chase Bank.
At the scene, she confessed that individuals claiming to work at Chase Bank had convinced her to move $40,000 from her bank account to a Bitcoin ATM. The suspect offered to transport the elderly woman and run her errands.
Chase Bank Impersonators Steals from Elderly Woman
The woman confessed that she only accepted the free ride because the caller ID was from Chase Bank. During the process, she believed the caller was a Chase Bank official.
The elderly woman claimed that she received numerous threats from the suspect if she failed to follow the bank’s instructions. She stated that if she had failed to deposit the $40,000 as instructed, she would have faced legal charges.
Unfortunately, before the WSPD arrived, the victim had already deposited $23,900. The law enforcers obtained the dashcam footage from the Bitcoin ATM, which will be used in further investigation.
The WSPD claimed that even after discontinuing the transaction, the suspect continued to threaten the elderly woman. The police department took corrective action to engage other law enforcement units in probing the matter.
Law Enforcer Warns Public Against Caller ID Spoofing
In the ongoing investigation, the WSPD plans to support the recovery of the stolen funds and convict the suspect. The woman expressed her gratitude to the officer at the scene for rescuing her. Subsequently, the WSPD cautioned the public against online scams.
The police lamented that lately, criminals have been spoofing the caller IDs of specific organizations to steal from customers’ funds. The law enforcers claimed that phone number spoofing is a common tactic used by pig butchering scammers.
A recent report shows that from January to June 2023, Americans received over 31 billion spoofed calls. This statistic shows that criminals commonly use spoofed phone numbers to steal from their targets.
Sergeant James Stewart vowed to work with other law enforcement agencies to arrest the criminals. The sergeant lamented that the damage caused by the suspect exposed the victim to a substantial loss of funds. Even though the older woman was rescued, Stewart expressed frustration about the incident.
Elsewhere, the chief of police, Christopher Cook, recognized the citizen who reported the matter to the WSPD and stated that the council would appreciate the citizens attending the upcoming meeting.
The WSPD early warnings replicated similar alerts from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) against impersonation scams.
The CISA claimed that the criminals are impersonating government agencies to steal from the public. The CISA explained that government officials never request money or gifts from the public.
Tokenhell produces content exposure for over 5,000 crypto companies and you can be one of them too! Contact at info@tokenhell.com if you have any questions. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Some of the posts on this website are guest posts or paid posts that are not written by Tokenhell authors (namely Crypto Cable , Sponsored Articles and Press Release content) and the views expressed in these types of posts do not reflect the views of this website. Tokenhell is not responsible for the content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products or any other content or banners (ad space) posted on the site. Read full terms and conditions / disclaimer.
