A woman in Roswell lost $100,000 in a cryptocurrency scheme where con artists posed as law enforcement to extort money from her.
Roswell police are currently investigating multiple Bitcoin extortion cases, with scammers targeting seniors by threatening arrest unless payments are made.
“These scammers rely on two primary tools, isolation and urgency,” Officer Tim Lupo of Roswell police told Channel 2’s Tom Regan.
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The victim, a woman in her mid-70s, was drawn into the scheme after an alert on her computer instructed her to call a help number, which connected her to the schemers.
Penny McNerney described the schemers as “soulless, horrible people” for conning her family member out of her life savings, “then told her, that the federal government had 34 counts against her.”
A supposed police officer instructed her to withdraw large sums of money from her bank.
“They kept scaring her, to say if you don’t do this, there will be someone at your door and they will arrest you,” McNerney said.
The victim was then directed to deposit the cash into Bitcoin ATMs in Roswell, where it was transferred to the fraudsters’ digital wallet.
Despite repeated demands for more money, the victim was coerced into believing that failure to comply would result in her arrest.
“It’s very sad because now they have moved onto somebody else. She was just a number,” McNerney said.
In an effort to prevent further incidents, Sandy Springs is posting warnings at Bitcoin ATMs, informing the public that law enforcement does not accept cryptocurrency payments.
“You need to hang up that phone immediately, and then talk to a family, friend, your personal banker,” Lupo said.
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