Daughter raising awareness after local seniors victimized in Bitcoin scam

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on December 20, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The daughter of a Lethbridge senior couple who recently became victims of a scam that cost them over $10,000 is sharing their story in hopes to create awareness for others.

It all began while Dana Allison’s parents were on a website trying to download a book, when they noticed a pop-up screen prompting them to contact Microsoft Support and were provided with a specific number to call.

“My parents called that number and were directed to run a program on the computer, and then they were told that they had been compromised and their identity was taken. They said ‘we need to check your bank accounts’, they were able to put a number on the screen, my parents got into their bank account and then somehow they were able to get on the screen,” said Allison.

She said that after this, her parents were provided with a phone number to contact their bank, which was not the bank’s real phone number but at that point her parents were not aware of this.

“They called that number, but it was not the bank and they got information and said ‘Oh yeah this is compromised, we need to protect your money so we need you to take it out’, so my parents went to the bank and they asked my parents to keep them on speakerphone,” said Allison.

She said the scammer kept them on the phone telling them not to speak to anyone in the bank, as they did not know who was involved with the information being misused.

“They took money out but the bank only allowed them to take out $4,000 so they (the scammers) said ‘OK you need that money out because it’s compromised, go to another branch’ and then the other branch let them take out $8,000,” said Allison.

At this point Allison said her parents were told a private account would be created for them and they needed to take their money to a Bitcoin machine and deposit that money into it.

“They did that and at that point they were being scared by telling them that their identity was being used for criminal activity and they needed to deposit that money fast to keep it safe,” said Allison.

She said her parents did not know how Bitcoin machines work, so they were starting to get worried and even more scared as they were told not to contact anyone.

“In the meantime, these people were like ‘we don’t know who’s in on this, don’t contact anybody, don’t talk to anybody,’ but they felt like they should talk to a friend who is a police officer,” said Allison.

She said their friend told them that unfortunately once the money is deposited in a Bitcoin machine it is gone and that this was not the first time the police have received reports about scams similar to it.

“I know there’s a lot of scams going on right now, there’s so many I’m sure, but just trying to get them aware of what kinds are out there and encourage them to reach out to family members if there’s anything that they’re not sure about,” said Allison.

Lethbridge Police Service Sergeant Kevin Talbot from the Economic Crimes Unit suggests residents should never trust phone numbers provided to them, especially if it is for their bank.

“Never trust the information that they provide you on who to call, because what they’re doing is they’re just having you call them. If they ask you to call your bank, get the number yourself,” said Talbot.

He said unfortunately scammers make the situation sound dire and scare their victims in acting urgently, causing them to not think clearly by putting them under pressure.

Talbot said this type of scam has been reported multiple times to LPS but unfortunately it is really hard to track as once money is converted into cryptocurrency it usually gets filtered to another country, and therefore LPS has no way to collect the funds back for them or to prosecute anybody.

“It’s challenging for us to investigate, because tracing it takes technology and expertise. We’re working towards improving that, but all of that costs money, so we’re hopeful that we are on the path to being able to investigate those more thoroughly, so that we can prosecute someone or at the very least try to get someone’s money back for them,” said Talbot.

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