Scam alert. MWC file photo.
MERRILL, WI (WSAU) — Scammers are continuing to evolve their tactics to get your money.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office says now that includes demands for Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Dogecoin. Lieutenant Tim Fischer says that ended up costing one resident thousands last week.
“[We had] a lady receive a pop-up on her computer saying [the machine] was compromised, call this number.” said Fischer. “She called and the person who answered claimed to be from Microsoft.”
The scammer then told her that there was a questionable transaction made to an online gambling site from her computer, and they offered to correct it in exchange for over $17,000 in Bitcoin. Fischer says that’s no different than providing money through a gift card, as once you turn over the information it takes just seconds for those funds to disappear.
“The way we understand it is there are actually Bitcoin machines in the Tomahawk and Rhinelander area. If you purchase those coins, they give you a QR code that you can scan and provide to the scammer. Once that code is processed, the money is going almost [instantly,]” said Fischer.
The woman did lose money in the transaction.
Fischer says you should question any unsolicited phone call from someone claiming to be from a government agency or another business and asking for payment in the form of gift cards or crypto. “[If you owe] any type of fine from the IRS or Microsoft, any entities, first off they aren’t going to contact you by phone and they aren’t going to ask for Bitcoin. There will be a monetary exchange with some sort of legalese; paperwork if you will.”
As always Fischer says if you question the legitimacy of someone calling you for money, it’s best to hang up and call the company they claim to be representing yourself. That allows you to verify if you owe them anything by going straight to the source.
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