BALTIMORE โ The prospect of quick profits is driving many to invest in cryptocurrency, and scammers are taking advantage of consumers unfamiliar with it.
Tammy Carr's crypto nightmare began with a series of charges on her credit cards.
โThe first one was $10,000 out of London, someone paid for the school. The other one was $8,000 and something, and the other $6,600, and then one was like $300 from Dubai," Carr said.
His banking information had been compromised. He reported the fraudulent charges to his credit card companies and then received a call from a man named Brian who claimed to be with Experian.
โHe had the last four digits of my credit card numbers, he had my name, address, and he knew what credit cards I had,โ Carr said.
He said he would protect his accounts and needed the codes texted to his phone.
โHe said all right. So, he had no reason to believe that he was not who he claimed to be,โ Carr said.
Once she gained access to her accounts, she set her sights on Carr's life insurance payout after her husband passed away from Covid-19.
โBeing vulnerable and being a widow, it's been a disaster,โ Carr said.
Brian told him that money would grow much faster in cryptocurrencies.
โWell, I've heard about Bitcoin and all that, but I don't know anything about it,โ Carr said. โI thought it was helping me. So he said, look, go download this app called Binance US, so I went and downloaded the app and everything, and I did, and I said, okay, I'll pay $2,500."
He set up the account and started the transfer, except he withdrew double the amount they had agreed to.
โSo now, my $5,000 is in the cryptocurrency and now my account is locked,โ Carr said.
He couldn't withdraw his money and Brian stopped helping.
"Many criminals and scammers use cryptocurrencies because they cannot be traced," said Bill Sieglein, a cybersecurity expert.
Sieglein has seen scammers use fake websites that trick victims into thinking they are making money as a ploy to invest more.
โInvesting advice coming from someone you don't know, ignore all that. Delete those texts, delete those emails. There are no cryptocurrencies to invest in unless you want to go to Coinbase or directly to one of the places that trade cryptocurrency,โ Sieglein said.
Sergeant James Farrell of the Bel Air Police Department contacted Binance on Carr's behalf. The company agreed to return $2,500, but the scammer took the other $2,500.
Also, beware of imposters who claim you have to pay the IRS or your utility bill with cryptocurrency.
In addition to being untraceable, these transactions are irreversible and have no legal protection.
