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WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – The Wausau Police Department is warning the public as crypto scam attempts continue to be reported in the area.
According to Wausau Detective Nichols Walters, the scam works in a variety of ways but mainly appears as an emergency, saying, “What we’ve been seeing lately is elderly individuals in our community will be targeted, usually through a phone call from someone claiming to be a relative, saying they got in trouble in a different state and they need bail money to get out of jail, which they’d then be directed to a second person involved with the scam, pretending to be lawyer who needs them to go to a crypto ATM and take money out.”
Detective Walters further spoke about another common scam involving clicking on a link on a computer that redirects users to a website that makes them believe their bank account has been compromised, and the individual has to take the money out of their bank account and send it to the “safe account” owned by the scammers.
“No bank, federal agency, or company is ever going to pressure you to send them cryptocurrency. It’s just not how they do business, so I’d say the best way to know if it’s a scam is if crypto is discussed,” Walters continued.
According to the FTC, since the start of 2021, more than 46,000 people have reported losing over $1 billion in crypto to scams, and Detective Walters says a lot of the victims don’t end up seeing their money again, saying, “We’re looking at a 99.9% failure rate in terms of getting that money back because there are limited options for us legally to do that.”
Anyone who has been scammed or feels like they’ve received a suspicious email or phone call is urged to call their bank directly and verify the issue or the charge, or to visit the Wausau Police Department to verify that the message or call is not a scam.
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