New Crypto Payment Scam

A SCARS Alert

How Scams Work!

There’s a New Spin On Scammers Asking People To Pay With Cryptocurrency.

It involves an impersonator, a QR code, and a trip to a store (directed by a scammer on the phone) to send your money to them through a cryptocurrency ATM.

It works like this:

• Someone might call pretending to be from the government, law enforcement, or a local utility company.
• Maybe a romantic interest you met online calls, or someone calls to say you’ve won the lottery or a prize.
• They’ll wind up asking you for money.
• If you believe the story they tell and you seem willing to engage, they’ll stay on the phone to direct you to withdraw money from your bank, investment, or retirement accounts.
• Then they’ll tell you to go to a store with a cryptocurrency ATM (and they’ll stay on the phone the whole time).
• Once you’re there, they’ll direct you to insert your money into the ATM and buy cryptocurrency.
• Here’s where the QR code comes in:
  • They send you a QR code with their address embedded in it. Once you buy the cryptocurrency, they have you scan the code so the money gets transferred to them.
  • But then your money is gone.

Here’s the main thing to know: nobody from the government, law enforcement, utility company, or prize promoter will ever tell you to pay them with cryptocurrency.

If someone does, it’s a scam, every time.

Any unexpected tweet, text, email, call, or social media message — particularly from someone you don’t know — asking you to pay them in advance for something, including with cryptocurrency, is a scam.