State police say a new Bitcoin-related scam has been targeting Indiana County residents, and it ended up costing two people a lot of money.
Bitcoin is a non-cash electronic currency and there are ATM-style kiosks that allow people to insert cash or credit cards and receive Bitcoin in exchange.
State police say that the scam involved a text message that told the victims there were unauthorized charges to their PayPal account. They were asked for the name of their bank and were given a phone number to call. Then they were instructed to withdraw money from their bank account, purchase Bitcoin from a kiosk located in Westmoreland County, and deposit it into another account.
On October 20th, a Homer City woman reported the loss of approximately $32,000. On the 23rd, a Blairsville man reported that he’d lost $7,430.
State police say you should discuss this and other scams with family members and verify the legitimacy of suspicious phone calls, emails, and text messages. When in doubt, ignore the message and contact a family member or local law enforcement.
