KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Kingsport Police Department (KPD) is alerting area businesses of a scam involving a Bitcoin deposit after a local store lost thousands of dollars.
A release from the KPD states that on Saturday, May 14, an employee of a Kingsport convenience store was called by someone claiming to be from the store’s corporate headquarters.
“The caller instructed the employee to take all of the money from the register and safe and transport it to another specified location and deposit it into a bitcoin depository,” the release states.
According to the KPD, the caller also sent the worker a QR code for the Bitcoin deposit and arranged for a ride share service to pick them up and take them to the deposit location.
In total, the store was defrauded out of $4,500, police report.
As of Monday, the scamming incident remains under investigation. However, no suspects have been identified yet.
The KPD is warning all local businesses to verify the identity of all their callers before moving any funds and to use caution.
