Scam Alert: Man Loses 27,000 dollars in Bitcoin to Scammers

By: Dickson Arinze

January 27, 2021 11:21 AM

Authorities are currently investigating a crypto scam incident where a California man in Daly City, has lost $27,000 worth of bitcoin.

The 48 years old man claimed he was tricked by the scammers which made him give them his keys to his wallet.

The victim whose name was not revealed said he received a text message from a number that later turned out to be impersonating a representative of U.S telecommunications providers T-Mobile. He received an SMS that they were suspicious activities in his T-Mobile account.

The fake Mobile representative claimed that there were attempts to change his account’s password. The scammer then asked him to call a phone number, and claimed it was also a T-Mobile phone number in a bid to ease victims' tension to be able to perfectly execute his criminal plans.

Meanwhile, the impersonator just used such an instance to elaborate on the scam. He received a new passcode to an old email address that was connected to his bitcoin wallet. The police believe that the scammers have also managed to hack the victim's email.

Afterward, the 48-year-old man received a call from an unknown number. The ghost caller claimed to be a Ledger representative which is a crypto wallet hardware company.

The fake Ledger employee now informed the victim that his bitcoin wallet had been compromised. With the victim now desperate to recover his alleged hacked wallet, the scammer told him that would manage the situation by restoring his wallet for him.

Meanwhile, the impersonator asked him for the passcode and anonymous account identification numbers as a process to help the victim recover his funds. This was the final trick as immediately the victim sent the requested information. He went on to check his wallet, all of his bitcoin worth $27,000 were no longer there.

Crypto phone scam has been on the rise with more cases reported in Canada, to note that the flagship cryptocurrencies parabolic rise to over $40k. There are more cases of crypto scams reported during the bullish crypto season.