A Michigan man has reportedly lost $37,000 after scammers posing as security and bank officials convinced him to deposit cash into a Bitcoin ATM.
Plymouth resident Steven Cooke says the ordeal began on March 20th when a warning took over his laptop screen claiming he had been compromised and instructing him to call a phone number, reports the NBC-affiliated WDIV Local 4.
Cooke says a woman identifying herself as “Veronica J. Wilson” told him his identity had been stolen and claimed Apple Security had detected unusual activity involving illicit sexual content.
The caller then told him that scammers had access to his accounts and began naming the starting digits of his credit cards.
A second person later joined the call and identified himself as “Richard Lee” from Chase Bank.
Cooke says the caller told him money had been removed from his accounts and instructed him to withdraw $37,000 from his bank and deposit it into a Bitcoin ATM in order to recover the funds.
After making the deposit, Cooke says the caller pushed him to withdraw more money from another bank
He then called Chase himself on a separate phone, where he learned the entire scheme was a scam.
Cooke says he has reported the incident to the Plymouth Police Department and the Federal Trade Commission.
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