SPRINGFIELD — Police are warning residents of cryptocurrency fraud after Springfield experienced a large uptick in scams over the past-year-and-a-half.
According to Police Superintendent Lawrence Akers, victims in Springfield have lost more than $624,000 in connection with cryptocurrency or bitcoin scams since January 2024, and over $1 million from scams in general during that time frame.
“The scams continue to grow in frequency and sophistication, and in total, with other scams here in the city, victims have lost over a million dollars,” Akers said. “That doesn’t even include people that, maybe out of embarrassment, don’t even report that they’ve been scammed.”
One of the more popular frauds lately, according to Akers, is when a scammer poses as someone from the sheriff’s department to convince a victim — ranging anywhere from 20 to 90 years old — they owe money, whether it be through warrants, fines or some other fabricated reason.
Akers said these scammers will instruct victims to deposit anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars in a bitcoin ATM, and then the money is transferred to an untraceable person, making it difficult for police to investigate.
According to police, residents should never complete these requests.
“At no time whatsoever will law enforcement agencies or any government agency here in Springfield request that you go to a bitcoin machine and insert monies to pay for any type of fine or warrant or anything else,” Akers said.
The bitcoin scam operation is a new criminal element police are facing, according to Springfield Police Sgt. Denny Denault, which means there are challenges regarding jurisdiction and seizing money.
Akers shared that some victims are coming to Springfield from as far away as upstate New York and Connecticut to deposit money. These ATMs are legitimate, but police say they are typically only used for investing.
Recently, Springfield police saved someone from losing $15,000 after the resident called the station to report the suspicious activity. In some cases, scammers will keep victims on the phone for as long as two to two-and-half hours, Akers said.
During one case, a scammer directed a victim to an ATM that was under construction. When the victim became dubious of the situation, the scammer found another ATM for them to go to, and the deposit was made.
Akers warned of this manipulation.
“They’re very sophisticated; they’re very convincing,” Akers said, of cryptocurrency scammers. “And a lot of people would think, ‘geez, I would never do anything like that.’ But … there are many, many, many people that get victimized by people just like this every day.”
Akers said if people feel like they are a victim of these scams, they should call the police department and report it so detectives can do their best to try and freeze some of the money.
“Victims, we’d like for you to put the word out also, make sure you report it,” Akers said.
Denault said the simple way to avoid these scams is to hang up the phone.
“Check on your parents, check on your grandparents, make sure that everything’s OK, because a lot of times what we’re finding is that the elders do not report it to their kids or to their parents,” Denault said. “However … there are people younger, 40s and 50s, who have been victims of this scam. “So, it’s a very easy fix; hang up the phone, or if you want to, call us.”
