DCSO Launching Fraud Awareness Campaign

Common types of fraud DCSO deputies are seeing involve a phone call, text, email, or pop-up claiming to be law enforcement, IRS, Social Security, a bank, utility company, court official, or a family member in trouble. Victims are told to act immediately and withdraw cash to deposit into a Bitcoin ATM and scan a QR code or send a photo of the receipt. Other times they are instructed to send gift cards or pay with a credit card. Once sent, the money is extremely difficult to recover. 

While most Bitcoin and cryptocurrency transactions are legitimate, there are several red flags people should be aware of including demands from the caller to pay in Bitcoin or crypto, threats of arrest, warrants, account closure, pressure to act immediately, instructions to keep the transaction secret and being told to lie to bank employees about the reason for withdrawing money. 

Many of the current scams involve a person claiming to be DCSO or another law enforcement agency telling the victim that there is an active warrant or that they have missed jury duty. Some are text messages claiming the victim owes a toll, etc. and sending money is the only way to avoid arrest. These calls are illegal and fraudulent but can be difficult for local law enforcement to investigate because they typically originate from an unknown location which is usually in a different jurisdiction. The best way to avoid becoming a victim is to understand that law enforcement will never demand payment over the phone for any type of situation and hang up if you receive one of these calls. 

“These callers sound very real and convincing. And sadly, there have been several victims who have been scammed out of thousands of dollars each only to then find out later they were a victim of fraud,” said Sheriff Brad Youngman. 

The awareness campaign will include partnering with area businesses that house a Bitcoin/Crypto ATM and placing warning signage provided by DCSO near the ATM prompting customers to stop and ensure they are not being scammed prior to conducting their transaction. DCSO will also be sharing a new social media video on April 1st addressing the scam as well as offering scam awareness presentations to local organizations, churches and other groups upon request. 

“We get calls about this constantly and my staff is heartbroken each time we take one of these reports because once the money has already been sent there is very little we can do to help the victim. With this campaign we will focus on prevention and getting the word out to avoid these problems,” said Sheriff Youngman.