A rise in cryptocurrency scams across Tucson has prompted the Pima County Sheriff’s Department to launch a new initiative to help protect community members.
These scams, which involve payment from a victim to a scammer by bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, are reported to the department about eight times a month, according to Detective Tyler Rivas of the fraud unit.
From January through October of this year, local victims reported losses from cryptocurrency scams totaling $814,934.
The transactions took place at one of the more than 300 Bitcoin Depot and Coinme ATMs located throughout the metro Tucson area, Rivas said.
This choice of currency is often used by scammers because bitcoin is an instant transaction and there is no third party involved. This has also made the cases difficult for law enforcement to investigate, Rivas said.
“It was our achilles heel,” Rivas said. “We didn’t know how to investigate (bitcoin), have the means to investigate it, or to recover the money.”
Scammers will often ask victims to deposit cash into these cryptocurrency ATMs for an assortment of suspicious or unusual reasons, like a pre-payment for lottery winnings, a payment to avoid arrest for a bogus warrant or an investment scam that requires money upfront.
Detectives in the unit work hard to hone in on new scams and keep up with the revolving ones, Rivas said.
In response, the fraud unit will be teaming up with local merchants, banks and others in the financial sector to place highly visible, easy-to-comprehend notices on ATMs, bitcoin machines, gift card kiosks and within bank branches, which act as a final warning to potential victims.
Rivas said these alerts aim to break through the scammer’s control at the last moment by placing scam prevention signs and law enforcement contact information at the site of the ATMs.
Rivas notes that anyone can become a victim of such scams and said no one should feel ashamed or embarrassed if they’ve been bamboozled.
“You don’t think it’s something that’s going to happen to you,” he said. “Until it does.”
The best way to stop these scams, investigators say, is to prevent them from happening in the first place.
Any businesses interested in obtaining scam alerts to place at their locations, or anyone experiencing a scam can contact the Pima County Sheriff’s Department Fraud Unit at fraud@sheriff.pima.gov or at 520-351-3000.
