A Keystone, Colorado, resident fell victim to a sophisticated crypto scam last week, losing more than $6,000 in Bitcoin after scammers posed as law enforcement officials threatening arrest for missing jury duty, according to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.

According to documents reviewed by decryptAlthough an additional transfer of $4,000 was being worked on, lawmakers were able to intervene before the transfer took place.

Despite this, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office announced that the perpetrators had already obtained sensitive personal information during the call.

“A deputy would never call someone to notify them of an arrest warrant and then offer to clear it in exchange for gift cards, wire transfers, or Bitcoin,” the office said in a statement. incident report.

Call diaries The report notes that similar incidents continue to occur across the state; A separate incident in Denver describes how a woman lost nearly $5,000 in Bitcoin after scammers posing as Denver Police officers convinced her that she had missed jury duty.

Believing that he must have missed the jury warning, the victim followed the perpetrator’s instructions and obtained a false arrest warrant by sending the payment via Bitcoin ATM.

When he contacted Denver Police to confirm the transaction, he discovered he had been scammed. Although his bank was notified of the fraud, the patrol report claims “it is unlikely that the money will be recovered.”

The case mirrors an incident in September when Keystone bank staff blocked another resident’s $8,000 cryptocurrency transfer after receiving similar fraudulent calls. Scammers are increasingly adopting spoofing techniques to make calls appear to be from legitimate law enforcement agencies.

of colorado crypto scam environment It has expanded significantly, with state investigators documenting more than 1,300 cases in 2023 totaling $81 million in losses. The state ranks 15th nationwide for crypto-related crimes. law enforcement data.

FBI Denver also released a statement. warning Earlier this year, token impersonation scams were filed, including high-profile cases in which approximately $3.2 million in cryptocurrency was misappropriated by a pastor and his wife, shilling a token called INDXcoin by targeting victims through Christian communities.

“These scammers can be aggressive and persuasive,” the Sheriff’s Office warned, noting that crypto transactions are particularly attractive to scammers due to their irreversible nature and difficulty tracking funds once they are transferred.