Minnesota Forum

The victim received a pop-up on his computer. The pop-up was from "Microsoft" stating his computer had been compromised. The pop-up instructed him to call Microsoft at 928-179-7945. The victim made the phone call and was advised that "Hackers" were in his computer and would empty his bank accounts if he didn't take action. This person encouraged him to call his bank and provided him the number to the fraud department. The person posing as the fraud department instructed the victim to physically empty all his money from his bank and bring it to a Bitcoin machine; one in Blaine and one in Ham Lake. The victim withdrew $15,000 in cash and deposited the money and sent a picture of the receipt as instructed. He then went to another bank and withdrew another $35,000 in cash and deposited it into another Bitcoin machine. Not fully understanding how Bitcoin works, he contacted customer support on the receipt from the Bitcoin machine. He was advised the money that he deposited had already been removed.