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NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) – The North Platte Area Chamber and Development Corporation and the North Platte Police Department joined forces today with the goal of helping protect the community against one of the most common scams in today’s digital age, cryptocurrency fraud.
Officials say cryptocurrency scams have become more common because transactions are fast, often irreversible and difficult to trace.
At today’s presentation, 21-year veteran of the North Platte Police Department, Investigator John Deal says the most recent scams have involved Bitcoin ATMs.
“The biggest thing we’ve run into lately is what’s called a Bitcoin ATM. Unlike a regular ATM, it works in reverse — you put cash into it, it converts your money to cryptocurrency, and then you can send that cryptocurrency to wherever someone asks you to,” said Investigator Deal.
Investigator Deal says if someone pressures you to move money into crypto, stop, verify and report.
“So we want people to ask themselves, when they get these suspicious phone calls or text messages or Facebook friend requests from somebody they don’t know and they start talking about these various things, it all is going to funnel down to, hey, we need you to send us money and we need you to go down to the barn store and send them through the crypto ATM. Does that make any sense? And it really doesn’t,” said Investigator Deal.
Investigator Deal concludes that if something feels off, contact the North Platte Police Department’s non-emergency line.
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