The Pennsylvania State Police have issued a warning about a new Bitcoin scam targeting residents. The scam involves fraudsters posing as representatives from victims' financial institutions, who then direct victims to make large cash withdrawals from their bank accounts. The victims are then instructed to deposit the money into local Bitcoin kiosks to "safeguard their money." Once the deposit is made, the scammers request a receipt or a QR code, which allows them to access the money and transfer it away from the victims.
According to the Pennsylvania State Police, due to the nature of Bitcoin, once the transfer is complete, it is essentially untraceable and cannot be tracked to a specific individual. The scammers are reportedly using "spoofing" techniques to make it appear that the victim is truly speaking to someone from their financial institution. The incidents appear to be targeting people of retirement age specifically.
The State Police are advising people not to give financial information or take financial advice from callers or texters who they didn't contact first. They also recommend registering with the Federal Trade Commission’s National Do Not Call Registry to report any unwanted calls.