TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – The U.S. Secret Service is warning East Texans of an uptick in cybercrimes involving cryptocurrency.
Bill Mack, Resident Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Tyler Office, said these involve a wide variety of scams; including romance scams, arrest warrant scams, and tech scams.
“These victims are being told to often pay through cryptocurrency ATMs,” Mack said. “They’re often being directed to these specific ATMs and then they’re putting the money in the ATM and sending it to the address provided by the criminal and then it’s gone very rapidly.”
Mack said the criminals are part of organized groups that operate globally from a variety of countries.
“They are professionals at this,” Mack said. “This is what they do full-time. It’s essentially their job to scam people.
Due to the nature of these crimes, Mack said it can be rather difficult to recover the money lost in these scams. He also said the criminals prey on a certain segment of the population.
“The elderly are disproportionately affected by this,” Mack said. “Especially tech scams and scams that play on certain emotions like fear and love.”
Mack said the scams often start with the victim visiting a dating or social media website. He said they then come into contact with profiles that are run by scammers.
“Eventually the scammer will build up the confidence or a relationship with the victim and eventually parlay that into conversations about seeking money for a variety of different things.”
Mack said some people are also targeted specifically using information obtained on the dark web.
The Better Business Bureau has scheduled a news conference to discuss these crimes in East Texas. The news conference is set for Thursday, March 24, at 2:30 p.m. It will feature Agent Mack, an FBI agent, and a senior staff attorney with the Federal Trade Commission.
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