An elderly US citizen transferred cryptocurrency to phone scammers. The FBI seized the funds and promised to return them to their rightful owner.
worth $ 500 thousand, owned by an elderly American who became a victim of telephone scammers. Details of the case are described in a statement from North Carolina District Attorney Dena King. Office of the Inspector General. The victim believed that his personal data was being used in a drug trafficking and money laundering scheme, so all his assets would be frozen by the authorities. One of the perpetrators stated that the victim should transfer the funds to a secure public account until the government is convinced that she was not involved in illegal activities.
The scammers forced the victim to use hundreds of thousands of dollars from their pension funds to buy bitcoins on the Coinbase crypto exchange. 12 August last year ,16 BTC, which at that time was estimated at $574,7 thousand, were transferred to the attackers’ account. At the current rate of bitcoin in $16,9 thousand, the approximate value of the cryptocurrency is $16 thousand
Coinbase and the FBI have identified the transfer as a possible financial fraud. After an investigation and legal proceedings, the cryptocurrency was confiscated, in the future they promised to return it to the victim.
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