Source: Adobe/Ivan.

The regional cops department in a Canadian town is sounding the alarm over a bitcoin (BTC)- associated rip-off that sees crooks impersonate federal government officials and call unwary homeowners to inform them to deposit money into a “bitcoin machine.”

The rip-off, first reported by regional news outlet The Sherwood Park News, has actually up until now fooled 2 victims into transferring a combined amount of CAD 21,000 (USD 15,500) into bitcoin kiosks by threatening to arrest the victims if they did not comply.

According to the post, the fraudster in the first circumstances stated he was an officer from the Royal Canadian Installed Cops (RCMP), while in the other circumstances the private pretended he worked for the Canada Profits Firm (CRA), the nation’s tax authority.

When it comes to the fake law enforcement officer, the fraudster supposedly informed the victim that his social security number had actually been jeopardized, which there were a number of pending scams accusations versus him. If the victim complied, nevertheless, whatever would be figured out and he would not be jailed.

The specific rip-off has up until now just been reported in Strathcona County, situated outside Edmonton in the Canadian province of Alberta.

According to the post, among the victims lost CAD 12,000 (USD 8,850) as a result of the rip-off, and the cops is now warning others versus falling victim to the very same fraudsters:

“There is no circumstance where police will contact individuals requesting bitcoin,” Cst. Chantelle Kelly with the Strathcona County RCMP stated in acomment

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Kelly added that “scammers typically contact hundreds of people hoping someone will send them money.”

Certainly, this is far from the first time fraudsters impersonated federal government officials in Canada in order to get their hands onbitcoin

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The very same thing likewise occurred in October in 2015, when fraudsters impersonating officers from the Canada Profits Firm threatened people with allegations of different financial misbehaviors, while requiring countless dollars in bitcoin for dropping the case, CBC reported.

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