JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ – A Jackson Township resident has been scammed out of $19,000 in a telephone-based Bitcoin scam. Today, police are warning residents saying it was just one of many that this area has experienced recently.
According to the Jackson Township Police Department, “On Tuesday, a resident reported that he had become the victim of a phone scam. He reported to Police Officer Matthew Cilento that he had been contacted by an unknown male who claimed he was a United States Marshal assigned to the Southern District Border Patrol in Texas.”
The victim gave detail of the scam that started with the scammer advising the victim that he needed to verify his identity or an arrest warrant would be issued for him and his bank accounts would be frozen.
“The victim was then advised to take all of the money out of his bank account and deposit it in a Bitcoin terminal and then send photos of the receipts to the unknown male and that the money would be returned to him the following day,” Captain Steven Laskiewicz, of the Jackson Police Department, said in a statement. “The victim ultimately deposited $19,000.00 into Bitcoin. Several hours after completing the transactions, the victim responded to police headquarters to report the incident.”
Laskiewicz wants to remind residents that law enforcement agencies will not contact you by telephone seeking payments in Bitcoin to verify your identity or to avoid having a warrant issued for your arrest.
“Do not provide these callers with any bank account information or obtain gift cards or make deposits into electronic accounts for them,” Laskiewicz said. “If you believe you’ve been contacted by an unknown person attempting to commit a scam, please report it to the Federal Trade Commission.”