TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The US Secret Service is warning East Texans about a spike in cybercrime involving cryptocurrencies.
Bill Mack, resident agent in charge of the US Secret Service's Tyler office, said it's a wide variety of scams; including romance scams, warrant scams, and tech scams.
โThese victims are often told to pay through cryptocurrency ATMs,โ said Mack. "Often they are directed to these specific ATMs and then they put the money in the ATM and send it to the address provided by the criminal and then it disappears very quickly."
Mack said the criminals are part of organized groups that operate globally from a variety of countries.
"They're professionals at this," Mack said. โThis is what they do full time. It is essentially their job to scam people.
Due to the nature of these crimes, Mack said it can be quite difficult to recover money lost in these scams. He also said that criminals take advantage of a certain segment of the population.
"The elderly are disproportionately affected by this," said Mack. "Especially tech scams and scams that play on certain emotions like fear and love."
Mack said the scams often start when the victim visits a dating or social media website. He said they then come into contact with profiles that are run by scammers.
"Eventually, the scammer will develop trust or a relationship with the victim and eventually use that in conversations about seeking money for a variety of different things."
Mack said that some people are also targeted specifically using information obtained on the dark web.
The Better Business Bureau has scheduled a press conference to discuss these crimes in East Texas. The press conference is scheduled for Thursday, March 24 at 2:30 pm It will be attended by Agent Mack, an FBI agent and a senior attorney from the Federal Trade Commission.
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