Ottawa man intercepts bitcoin scam targeting elderly woman
CTV
An Ottawa man found himself intercepting an investment scam Friday afternoon.
An Ottawa man found himself intercepting an investment scam Friday afternoon.
Tom St. Denis was on his lunch break at the Kenata Indian Supermarket when he happened to pass by an elderly woman being guided over the phone to use the store’s bitcoin ATM.
He got in his car to leave, but a bad feeling drove him back inside. When he asked the woman why she was using the machine, his bad feeling was justified.
“She was telling us about some form of investment and that she was helping with a fraud case. If she transferred the money, she would get paid $300 to keep for her troubles,” St. Denis recalled Sunday.
“Immediately, the red flags went up – this is clearly a scam.”
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, was initially fooled by a spoofed caller ID – a 902 area code and a person on the other end who claimed to be a Scotiabank representative.
They had her install malicious software on her computer and her banking credentials were soon compromised. Not long after, a deposit of $1,200 appeared in her savings account. She was told to buy $1,000 in gift cards and that she could keep the remaining $200 for her troubles.
