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She said she was then advised to withdraw money from her bank accounts and deposit it through a Bitcoin machine, where it would remain in an account for safekeeping until the investigation was over.
That poor woman. Even if she hadnβt seen all the other red flags, this was the flare gun shot in the night sky.
Perhaps she has a mental disability
One of the most important things to remember about scams is that there's almost never an "act now" urgency with legitimate investigations/actions. Even in cases of crimes where people are arrested on the spot they have the right to talk to a lawyer before anything proceeds legally. The authorities are not contacting groups of citizens over the phone to tell them they'll be arrested/lose everything in 24 hours if they don't comply.
If someone is telling you that you need to do something IMMEDIATELY and you need reassurance, first off realize it's almost certainly a load of crap. Tell them to send their requests to you in writing, hang up, and contact your bank and/or the institutions that are apparently investigating you (CRA, Police, etc.)
Though she was convinced she was helping the Canadian government with its investigation, her husband and friends said something didn't seem right, adding she was likely getting scammed.
She was warned, and still went ahead with it anyway without doing the slightest bit of verification. This feels like the finance version of a Darwin Award
Its still tragic to see con artists steal money from prople with mental disabilities
I warned a coworker years ago their wife was getting scamed. A friend form their past contacted them and needed help, with money. Being good christian folks they gave it. Never saw it again. A month later he was like yes it was a scam.
Then again, deadbeats asking for cash is an entirely different thing. You KNOW there's a good chance you won't see them or the money again, but for some people the conscience wins out.
I feel bad for her, but it does sound like a fairly obvious scam.
Everything I've read makes me think that a scam is obvious only to those not taken in and those who get the benefit of reading a news story.
This particular scam is a relatively minor variation on the "bank examiner" scam that has been successfully operating pretty much since the invention of banking. With the right play, even people familiar with the scam can be taken in.
She made multiple trips to a Bitcoin machine, Bitcoin alone should be obvious to most people. Mean it sucks for them and I feel for their situation but what government employee is going to tell them to go to a Bitcoin machine?
At the very least set up a new account at a different bank with extra safeguards until it's sorted out.
Bitcoin alone should be obvious to most people.
Most people don't know what Bitcoin is let alone it's propensity in scamming.
Hi, this is the county password inspector.
Can you check mine? It's hunter2.
That password is not in order! Here it is in order: ehnrtu2
Don't worry it's a secure transaction! All I see is *******
Iβm the county boobie inspector.
I'm blown away that people still fall for these. Always say that you'll call back to verify and get the number from the company's website or call the number on your credit / debit card.
It can happen to anyone:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/05/cyber-dunning-kruger/
Cory Doctorow didn't just fall off the back of a turnip truck. If it can happen to him, odds are it can happen to you.
Yeah, I'd forgot that he wrote about getting conned. Good call.
Who the hell gives their credit card number out to the company who should have records of said account. Sorry, but they did fall off the back of the turnip truck.
SOP at my major bank for verifying myself over the phone used to be to read out numbers from my debit and credit cards. Now my bank uses SMS 2FA.
The fault lies partly in the fact that 7 numbers of your card can give all 16 numbers away.
Nah, he fell off the swiss-cheese truck. And wouldn't you know it, the stack of swiss landed with a perfect line of holes. Zap!
There is a reason they do this, it works.
Didn't actually read the whole piece did ya? Just stopped at the first paragraph and then reacted?
It's fine, at this point I'm sure you'll go find something else to pick apart to protect your ego, meanwhile allowing the point to escape you entirely.
I just hope if/when you get scammed, the people around you are less of a dick about it.
They use it to verify your identity. Or when you phone in the ask to input your credit card number to continue.