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NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio –
A North Olmsted resident at 1:18 p.m. on July 8 reported an attempted fraud in which she was convinced to deposit nearly $5,000 into a Bitcoin cryptocurrency ATM. She then attempted to deposit another $8,000 before the scam unraveled.
The resident said that on July 7, she received a fraudulent email claiming to be from “PayPal” for a $400 purchase that she didn’t make. Believing the bogus email was real, she called a number listed on the email to contest the charge. A phony customer service agent asked for the name of her bank. When she told the scammer the name of her bank, the scammer claimed to transfer her call to a fraud department representative with that bank. However, the woman was speaking with another scammer who convinced her to go to her local bank branch, withdraw $5,000, and deposit the money into a local cryptocurrency ATM. The scammer also told her that if the bank teller challenged why she wanted to withdraw a large sum of money, she should say it was for a vacation.
The woman withdrew the money, but the local cryptocurrency ATM was out of order. The scammer then directed her to two other crypto ATMs. Finally, the third machine, in Berea, was working, but it only accepted $4,900 of the deposit. The phony bank representative convinced the woman to withdraw another $8,000 from her bank account and deposit it into the cryptocurrency ATM. However, the ATM stopped accepting her money, and the scammer became upset with the victim. He assured her she would get her money back.
The ATM screen displayed a message instructing the victim to call a representative for the machine operator, who questioned the woman’s large transactions and told her to hang up on the phony bank representative because he was scamming her. The cryptocurrency ATM company employee said the company would reverse the $4,900 deposit she made to the scammers’ account and return her money by mail. The ATM operator also said that she should contact her real bank to report the attempted fraud.
A police officer advised the woman to contact the police department again if any more fraudulent charges appear.
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