The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says a 68-year-old woman was the victim of an online bitcoin scam earlier this week. Chief Deputy Ben Houchin says had a window pop up on her computer that she believed was from Microsoft Support.
“It informed her that there was a suspicious bank account transfer of $7,000,” Houchin says The pop-up included a phone number and she called it. “The individual informed her that she was going to need to take $7,000 out her bank account and convert it to bitcoin through a bitcoin ATM.”
The woman did so and lost the money. Houchin says the woman then realized it was a fraud.. The person kept calling her, but the woman quit answering. Cases like these continue to happen and Houchin has some simple advice to prevent becoming a victim.
“If anybody on the phone tells you to go and take any money and put into bitcoin, please hang on them. This is a fraud.”