Greg's Corner

Never move your money for law enforcement

By Greg Collier

Police impersonation scams are far from new, but they seem to be picking up steam lately if the reporting is to be believed. Even we made a post recently about three different police impersonation scams. Although, the phrase ‘police impersonation’ can be a misnomer. Scammers also impersonate federal law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, the DEA, and Borders and Customs. Or, in the case of today’s scam, the U.S. Marshals Service.

An elderly woman from Massachusetts recently received a phone call from someone claiming to be a U.S. Marshal. The caller told the woman she had been a victim of identity theft and that her money was at risk. The victim was then instructed to empty her bank account, so the money could be ‘protected’ by the U.S. Marshals. She was told she’ll deposit into a Bitcoin ATM, where she would have a digital wallet that would be hers alone.

The victim was then instructed to go to four different branches of her bank and withdrawal $30,000, all the while being kept on the phone with the phony Marshal. Unfortunately, none of the bank branches ever inquired about the withdrawals.

She made two deposits into two separate Bitcoin ATMs before driving to her attorney’s office, who immediately informed her it was a scam.

Seniors can be particularly vulnerable to police impersonation scams, since many of their generation were raised to have a health respect for the police. It also didn’t help that this scammer sounded calm and helpful on the call, while most scammers threaten their victims with arrest.

Moving your money to protect it from hackers and identity thieves isn’t a thing. If a bank account becomes compromised, the money is gone instantly. There’s no ‘grace period’ where police can intervene. Additionally, law enforcement doesn’t tend to warn consumers if they’be been a victim of identity theft. That would be something the victim would need to report to police. Lastly, anytime someone you don’t know personally brings up Bitcoin as a form of payment, the odds are you’re being scammed since the cryptocurrency is largely unrecoverable.

If you receive a call like this, ask for the officer’s or agent’s name and badge number before calling the actual police department or agency they claim to be from.

If you know someone who you think may be vulnerable to this scam, please let them know.