Grand Traverse County Woman loses $48,000 in Bitcoin Scam

The Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office said a woman was scammed out of $48,000 in an increasingly common fraud case involving bitcoin.

Deputies say the victim received a call from an unknown person asking to be sent money through a bitcoin kiosk. The victim believed the caller was from PayPal’s fraud department and withdrew $51,000 from her bank. She ended up sending more than $48,000 to an untraceable bitcoin account. The sheriff’s office says the money is not recoverable.

They advise the public if they “get a phone call from somebody and they want you to pay with bitcoin pain or fraud or a gift cards or anything like that, it’s likely a scam and kind of a way to test that is tell them that you’ll take their phone number and you call them back.”

The Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Office continues their effort to fight scammers by hosting fraud prevention presentations.