Lincoln Police received a call from a man last Friday saying he was the victim of a fraud. “The 58-year-old Lincoln man told officers he received a call and text from a woman identifying herself as a federal agent, saying his bank accounts had been compromised by hackers,” says Public Information Manager Erika Thomas.
“He was instructed to withdraw money from the bank and meet a person outside his residence who would place it in a lock box at the Federal Reserve.” Thomas says he gave $79,000 in cash to an unknown man on November 17. “Two days later, the woman contacted him again and told him to deposit $4,000 in two separate Bitcoin machines.”
She says the man was also told to ship $20,000 in cash to an address in California, which he sent on November 19. In total, the victim lost $103,000. “As a reminder, no legitimate business or government agency is going to ask you for payment in cryptocurrency,” Thomas says. “It’s always important to independently verify any claims being made.”
She encourages everyone to use the acronym SCAM to remind yourself: STOP – don’t act on fear, threats or urgency CHECK – hang up and independently verify caller AVOID – if pressured, do not send cryptocurrency MAKE A REPORT – call LPD at 402-441-6000