Bitcoin scams targeting the elderly are on the rise in Arizona county

Pima County in Arizona has witnessed a surge in Bitcoin scams, with most of the scams targeting the elderly. According to reports, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department mentioned that con artists have been targeting the residents with a series of cryptocurrency scams.

The Sheriff’s Department mentioned that most of these scammers are from other countries, noting that they target the elderly while using Bitcoin ATMs to carry out their criminal activities. According to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) Financial Crimes Detective Michael Wilson, the scams have grown from being frequent to being carried out daily.

Wilson mentioned that the rate has ticked up a little, with these international scammers impersonating several government officials. He added that most of them call the elderly in the country, pretending to be officers from PCSD to carry out these bad acts.

Bitcoin ATM scams on the rise in Pima County

According to Wilson, the scammers usually employ different tactics to convince the elderly ones, noting failure to show up for jury duty as an example. “They will say ‘Hey you unfortunately didn’t show up for jury duty and as a result, you have a warrant for your arrest. The best way to prevent you from going to jail is to just pay the bond in advance,’” Wilson said.

He added that the scammers will take their time to convince their victims about their disregard for the law, while mentioning that they also offer and convince them to pay using digital assets. “They will give some reasoning for why they need you to pay this in cryptocurrency,” he added.

Wilson mentioned that after the scammers are done convincing them to pay in digital assets, they will then ask the victim to make a big cash withdrawal and deposit the funds into a Bitcoin ATM, which are often in convenience stores across the county. These machines then convert the cash into digital assets and are moved across different accounts before they disappear.

“Once it’s in there the money moves from account, to account, to account, in extremely rapid speed, and as a result it becomes very difficult to locate after that,” Wilson said. He added that most of their targets have been the elderly because they have a steady income, are worried about breaking the law, and are a little bit more trusting compared to younger people.

PCSD warns residents about rampant Bitcoin ATM scams

According to the PCSD, victims have lost a lot of money as a result of these criminals‘ activities, with some losing thousands of dollars in a single visit to the convenience store. Wilson also added that it can be quite hard to recover the funds, noting that the scammers are in other countries and their victims are depositing the funds directly into their accounts.

He added that they always try to recover some of these funds immediately the victims report, but most of it reaches overseas, and it is not always possible. “We’ve had a lot of success, we continue to make progress in these types of scams, but as the technology grows it’s becoming increasingly difficult,” he said.

Meanwhile, the PCSD has started putting warning signs on some of these Bitcoin ATMs to warn potential victims of the scam before they lose funds. “Having these alerts right in a place they can see right where they’re making those deposits can sometimes be the difference between them losing money and them safeguarding themselves and just hanging up the call,” Wilson said.

He added that since these criminals are evolving their tactics, anyone who gets a suspicious call or text should call 911 or try to contact the fraud unit of the PCSD.

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