Alberta Police in Canada issues the latest public warning on Bitcoin scams and cryptographic schemes

Crypto-hackers are the latest example of technology hackers to hit the mainstream. From South Korea to Britain, crypto-hackers have even come to hold government entities hostage to their bitcoin demands. Even internationally recognizable homonyms such as Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled got caught up in the fray.

But recently, Canadian police have issued a warning to the public about targeted consumer scams involving bitcoins.

Warnings of the Canadian police

Edmonton, Alberta, received a warning from the police on Wednesday on the increase in cryptographic and on the need to remain vigilant as micro-investors.

Commander Tuyen Nguyen from the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) said this:

"What has evolved is the payment method required by scammers." While gift cards were once the preferred payment, scammers are now increasing demanding payments in other forms such as bitcoins and e-transfers. "

The police also mentioned the dramatic increase in identity theft and fraud cases in recent years; between 2013 and 2017, there was an increase of almost 90% and 2018 saw an increase of almost 10% alone.

Crypto ATM machines: a special type of scam

One of the most effective strategies used by cryptographers is standing close to the cryptocurrency bancomat and threatens to arrest the victims to convince them to convert their money into Bitcoin, making monitoring extremely difficult.

"It is a very difficult fraud to investigate, since (bitcoin is the currency chosen.) After the money has been transferred, we can not freeze the funds that are in the machine because it has already been converted," said the agent. Kyle Pepper to journalists during the press conference on Wednesday. "It has nothing to do with the owners of the machines, it's just the way cryptocurrency works, it's unfortunate … There were a lot of people who lost a lot of money".

As part of the new EPS awareness campaign, a series of announcements and a brochure were created in multiple languages ​​to actively inform and remind all residents of beware of Bitcoin scams as a preemptive strike to help reduce the 39; escalation of these problems.