Burnaby RCMP is warning residents of a Bitcoin scam that have resulted in three separate investigations in the last month.
One local resident was defrauded out of $28,000 at the end of September and two other cases involved amounts between $4,000 and $6,000, according to Sgt. Derek Thibodeau.
Fraudsters are posing as employees of the Canadian Revenue Agency, calling victims about unpaid taxes and threatening potential victims unless they process a Bitcoin payment immediately.
In a twist on this scam, fraudsters pose as police officers and tell potential victims that one of their relatives is being held in custody and a large sum of money payable through bitcoin is needed to release them.
The scams themselves are not new, according to Thibodeau, but this is the first time Burnaby RCMP has dealt with scammers demanding the cryptocurrency.
Neither the Canada Revenue Agency nor any police service in Canada accepts it as a means of payment, he said.
Within the Burnaby community, four different Bitcoin ATMs are available for use, but RCMP officers warn of scams that have happened at each. It can also be transferred and used through a computer.
Read the full story over at Burnaby Now.
