Victim loses $14K in cryptocurrency ATM scheme: Denver police

DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Police Department is warning the public about a recent trend involving people using cryptocurrency ATMs to take money from people impacted by scams and said one victim recently lost $14K.

According to police, the patterns and stories of recent incidents are similar to other scams in the past, but the way that scammers receive money has evolved.

Police gave an example of a victim who said she got a call from a suspect who claimed to be an officer with DPD. The suspect told the victim she had missed court and now had a warrant out for her arrest.

The victim was told that she needed to pay thousands of dollars to avoid jail time and was instructed to go to a nearby laundromat and use the cryptocurrency option on the self-service banking kiosk to deposit “bail” money.

The victim sent the initial amount requested by the scammer but was then told to send even more. In all, the victim lost $14,000 before learning that it was a scam, according to police.

Denver police said that it will never call people directly to tell them they have a warrant or ask for money.

DPD is urging people to hang up if they receive this sort of call and report it to local law enforcement.

People in Denver can call 720-913-2000 and press 2 or can go online and file a complaint with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office .

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