71-Year-Old Man Scammed For Depositing $30,000 In Foreign Bitcoin Account

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DUNDEE, Mich. (WTVG) — Internet scams can happen anywhere, even in a small town.

Police in Dundee, Michigan say a 71-year-old man was recently the victim of a scam that is circling our area. It all started with a pop-up on the internet claiming to be from the man’s bank. The message gave him a number to call.

The scammer then told the man that his bank account had been hacked and he needed to transfer his money and convert it to Bitcoin to keep it safe.

So he was asked to take out $15,000 two days in a row to empty his savings account. He followed directions to a bitcoin machine in Dearborn, MI, where he deposited money for two days, and was even warned by the scammer, if the bank asks you what you’re doing , tell them you do home repairs. Because they tell him a bank employee is actually involved in hacking his information, Dundee Police Chief Lieutenant Randy Sehl explained.

Lt. Sehl said that once the money was deposited in the foreign account, it was converted into digital currency. This made cash in the machine obsolete and banned.

We asked why we couldn’t withdraw the money from the machine. In fact, it’s just an avenue for money to cross the seas. Everything is transferred electronically once it’s put in. It’s not really the machine or the owner of the machines who is responsible because the crime had already happened. So we were working every way we could to try and get the money back, but it’s not looking good right now, Lt. Sehl said.

Dundee Police are working with Homeland Security and the FBI on the case. In the meantime, they are spreading the word so that no one else is victimized.

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