The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says a 73-year-old woman is out $10,000 after falling victim to a bitcoin scam. Chief Deputy Sheriff Ben Houchin says the woman called authorities Tuesday night to report the fraud.
He says an Apple security alert popped up on her computer telling her to call Apple support. “During the call she was told foreign hackers who were going to connect her to a child porn ring and the only way to stop it from happening was to pay the hacker $25,000.”
Houchin says the woman went to her bank, but they only let her withdraw $10,000. “She then went to a Lincoln business and used the bitcoin ATM and deposited the cash.” He says the scammer told her to go to her bank the next day and get the other $15,000.
Houchin says that’s when the woman started to realize something was wrong and contacted the sheriff’s department. “Anybody telling you to do anything with a bitcoin ATM and deposit money to give them it is a fraud. Please do not do that.”
Houchin says a sign warning people about scams is located near that ATM machine. He urges everyone with elderly relatives to talk to them about scams and make sure they call you before they do anything suspicious online.