AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) — Local law enforcement in Amarillo has successfully recovered funds swindled from a person targeted in a job-related fraud scheme.
The individual, having fallen prey to the con, reported the incident to the Amarillo Police Department (APD) on August 14.
The victim had responded to an opening for a virtual personal assistant, found on an internet job board.
The deception involved the perpetrator dispatching bogus checks to the victim, with directions to deposit these checks, extract the cash, and then feed the money into a Bitcoin ATM. This action transferred the funds into a digital crypto account controlled by the scammer.
The suspect check deposit took place on August 13.
Corporal Ed Carroll promptly alerted the APD’s Financial Crimes Unit to the situation.
Detective Janae Coleman then took on the task of tracing the cryptocurrency as it was moved from the initial digital wallet to a cryptocurrency exchange.
The illicit funds were successfully put on hold on August 18.
This past Monday, the APD received confirmation that the money had been restored to the victim.
“The Amarillo Police Department wishes to acknowledge Corporal Carroll’s quick thinking in identifying the deception and immediately notifying the FCU, as well as Detective Coleman’s dedicated efforts in tracing and retrieving a significant portion of the victim’s money,” stated the APD. “Their combined efforts prevented a major monetary loss and demonstrate how vital it is to involve the Financial Crimes Unit swiftly in similar instances.”
The APD advises the public to exercise caution when faced with unexpected employment opportunities, especially those that involve atypical financial procedures, such as depositing checks and transforming money into cryptocurrency.
If you suspect that you may be a victim of a scam, reach out to the Amarillo Police Department without delay.