Police in Green Bay, Wisconsin, report that local citizens have lost more than a quarter of million dollars to cryptocurrency scams since 2020.
As the crypto industry fights for wider adoption and seeks to cast of the stigma around crypto as a common vehicle for money laundering and other malfeasance, the sheer scale of citizens’ losses in a mid-sized US city is unlikely to help.
Crypto Fraud Takes Green Bay Citizens for a Ride
As WBAY News reported Wednesday, Green Bay police released data showing a total loss of $195,200 thus far in 2023. The figure is higher than in any other year for which figures are available, and that’s just the theft that citizens have reported.
Since 2020, the local story stated, Green Bay police have received no fewer than 28 reports of crypto theft. The total amount stolen? $273,893.
A highly common modus operandi is for the scammers is to tell citizens that they have incurred some kind of debt or fee, in connection with a technical issue or the delivery of a package, according to the WBAY story.
The bad actors then instruct the victims to send them cryptocurrency to allay the fee, or to convert their money into crypto and then pay. In some cases, they offer to stay on the phone and talk the unwitting victims through the entire process of parting with their hard-earned money.
Green Bay Police Captain Jeff Brester said legitimate companies and government agencies will never ask citizens to pay in crypto.
Once the bad actors receive what they have demanded, it is virtually impossible to get the money back. The scammers are often in foreign jurisdictions and their real identities are unknown.
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Author: Michael Washburn
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