It all started with a popup saying the woman's computer was locked.
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A retired nurse is the latest victim of an online crypto scam.
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The woman from Buffalo, New York, who requested anonymity, told WKBW who lost his $43,000 life savings โ and his part-time job โ after scammers took over his work computer.
It all started with a popup saying the woman's computer was locked. In a panic, she called the emergency number provided in the popup and was later told that her bank account had been hacked.
He was instructed to move his money immediately.
Following the instructions of the scammers, the woman withdrew $43,130 in cash, transferred $13,700 to a bank in East Asia, and then deposited $29,430 at a Bitcoin ATM.
The ATM converts dollars into cryptocurrencies and moves them to a digital wallet.
The woman was given a barcode to use and her money was sent to Kolkata, India.
The scammers were very convincing, she said.
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"This is organized crime," said Kathy Stokes, AARP's director of fraud prevention.
โShe is facing a sophisticated criminal operation. They have the money, the time, the playbook, they have employees, and it's us against them."
Stokes explained that scammers know exactly what buttons to push on people to get them into an emotional state.
โThey call it 'going under the ether.' It could be fear, love, emotion.
"If you feel like you're getting excited or upset about an email, a phone call or whatever, try to connect it with 'Okay, I have to be skeptical here,' because once you get there, it's hard to back down," Stokes said. .
โBitcoin is only supposed to go into your wallet,โ said Todd Maher, president of Bitsource AML Solutions, a company that focuses on financial crime investigations involving Bitcoin ATMs.
Maher said that any time a person requests a payment through a Bitcoin ATM, "zero percent of the time it's legit."
It is unlikely that the woman will be able to recover any of her money.
