CHICOPEE, Mass (WWLP) – BitCoin and cryptocurrency schemes are on the rise. Chicopee Police Department is warning people of schemes involving payment using BitCoin.
Steve Weisman who runs scamicide.com, a website to keep people updated on the latest schemes, says one of the easiest ways to determine a scheme is if a company is looking for a payment in BitCoin or gift cards. BitCoin and cryptocurrency are commonly used in schemes as they are one of the hardest to trace and one of the most anonymous which makes it very hard for someone to get their money back.
“What scammers often do is they create an emotional emergency situation that you need to respond to right away and so people don’t take the time to think it through and this isn’t just the elderly or people that aren’t very smart, anyone can be a victim of a scam,” said Steven Weisman of scamicide.com.
Weisman said the biggest thing you can do is just slow down. Look over what it is asking you to do. If it is BitCoin, cryptocurrency, or gift cards, these should all be red flags. Also, look at the email address, he said some scammers use letters from other alphabets, like the Russian alphabet. Letters that look similar to the real company but may have extra dots or lines around them.
The Chicopee Police are encouraging people who are questioning a payment or money request to call the company’s customer service. Always monitor your accounts, and check your banks and credit reports to make sure someone isn’t stealing your information.
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