In a recent post, four victims from Melbourne, Australia lost around $50,000 by depositing it into a Bitcoin ATM. According to the detective of the Maribyrnong Crime Investigation Unit, victims were lured into depositing their money in order to pay their tax debt. The victims from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne were threatened to be arrested if they did not pay a fixed sum of amount.
The report stated that victims were asked to make a cash withdrawal and then travel all the way to Braybrook and deposit their money into a Bitcoin ATM which was one of the few cryptocurrency ATM’s around the city.
Furthermore, the investigation revealed that targeted victims were usually the migrants who had recently arrived in search for jobs. These migrants could easily be lured into the scam by convincing them that their immigration status was at jeopardy. The victims were then given a unique code, after which they were asked to deposit the money into the Bitcoin ATM.
Sergeant Katherine Lehpamer, a detective at the Maribyrnong Crime Investigation Unit stated that the scam has affected many more victims. Investigative authorities believe that there were two reasons for the victims chose not to report the scam. The first was an expired VISA and the other was that they were unaware of the fact that the authorities would never ask them to deposit cash into ATM’s. She further added:
“It does appear that the scammers are targeting a certain group of people who they can convince that their immigration status is in jeopardy”
Sergeant Katherine also stated that individuals who would get information regarding tax payments were required to inquire with the relevant authorities before giving out any kind of personal information or banking details over mobile phone.
According to a recent post, over one thousand Australian restaurants were set to accept payments through cryptocurrencies. The NEM Smart Asset Blockchain technology had integrated XEM with the LVN coin. LVN coin was a digital currency of Liven which was a dining rewards app allowed Australian users to pay with cryptocurrency across various restaurants through the LivenPay payment network.
The post $50,000 Bitcoin [BTC] ATM scam in Australia, authorities say uninformed migrants are at risk appeared first on AMBCrypto.
Source: AMBcrypto
Original Post: ,000 Bitcoin [BTC] ATM scam in Australia, authorities say uninformed migrants are at risk
