A troubling scene unfolded inside a Marathon convenience store in Westlake, Ohio, last month, where a 71-year-old woman continued depositing cash into a Bitcoin ATM while speaking to someone on her phone.
Even as a store employee and police officers stood beside her urging her to stop, she kept feeding notes into the machine, convinced she was saving her life savings from theft.
The incident began when the woman received a pop-up message on her computer claiming it was infected with a virus.
A phone number provided for help connected her to a scammer posing as a bank fraud investigator.
He told her that illegal material had been planted on her computer and that her life savings were at risk unless she transferred the money into a crypto machine.
Despite warnings, she continued feeding cash into the ATM.
Police body camera footage captured an officer saying,
“We deal with this all the time, stop what you're doing, I'm telling you, stop. If somebody tells you to do this, you are being scammed.”
The woman responded,
“They’re on the phone; they can hear everything.”
The officer replied,
“Right, and they’re scamming you.”
The scammer persuaded her to deposit 18,000 dollars, though she eventually stopped after losing 5,500 dollars.
He even coached her on what to tell bank staff, suggesting she claim the cash was for buying a car.
A QR code sent to her phone directed the deposited funds to the scammer’s crypto wallet.
Police were able to freeze the scammer’s cryptocurrency wallet using advanced technology, though it remains unclear whether the victim will recover her money.
Westlake Police Captain Jerry Vogel said,
“She sees the pop-up, so she knows that there is an issue. Unfortunately, now the scammers use that and say, ‘Hey, it looks like maybe someone has been planting pornography or some other illicit material on your computer, you’re going to be in some trouble if you don’t get this money out of your bank and put it into a crypto machine.’”
He added,
“We take one step forward, they take another step forward, so it’s a cat and mouse game.”
With cryptocurrencies becoming more mainstream, scams exploiting fear and urgency are increasingly convincing, especially for the elderly.
Scammers craft detailed narratives and leverage technology like QR codes and fake virus alerts to manipulate victims into sending money quickly.
Coinlive notes that this case illustrates how financial technology can be exploited by fraudsters, particularly against vulnerable populations.
The combination of fear, urgency, and tech-based manipulation can override repeated warnings.
This raises a critical question for society: are current awareness efforts, legal frameworks, and protective technologies sufficient to shield those most at risk from digital financial crime?
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