Liberty, Missouri, police are issuing a scam warning after a store clerk stepped in Thursday when they noticed an older customer getting ready to send a large sum of money through a cryptocurrency ATM while on the phone.Police said the clerk intervened, then called their department. Officers spoke to the man and learned he believed his computer had a virus, and he thought he was on the phone with Microsoft support.Bodycam video provided by Liberty Police shows the man tell authorities, “I was on my computer trying to do something and all of a sudden it locked up, and so, I called what I thought was Microsoft. The man told police the person on the other end of the line was directing him to send money to fix the virus through a cryptocurrency ATM.”It sounds real familiar?” the man asked police.”Yeah, a little bit, unfortunately,” the detective told the man.See the interaction with Liberty Police here:The clerk’s quick thinking likely saved the man from losing $30,000 to the scam. Liberty PD wants to remind the public that legitimate businesses will never request payment through crypto machines. Warnings have also been placed on every crypto ATM in Liberty.Crypto ATM scams have become a quickly growing crime as the machines have spread across the metro. KMBC9 has covered multiple instances of attempted and successful scams.
Liberty, Missouri, police are issuing a scam warning after a store clerk stepped in Thursday when they noticed an older customer getting ready to send a large sum of money through a cryptocurrency ATM while on the phone.
Police said the clerk intervened, then called their department.
Officers spoke to the man and learned he believed his computer had a virus, and he thought he was on the phone with Microsoft support.
Bodycam video provided by Liberty Police shows the man tell authorities, “I was on my computer trying to do something and all of a sudden it locked up, and so, I called what I thought was Microsoft.
The man told police the person on the other end of the line was directing him to send money to fix the virus through a cryptocurrency ATM.
“It sounds real familiar?” the man asked police.
“Yeah, a little bit, unfortunately,” the detective told the man.
See the interaction with Liberty Police here:
The clerk’s quick thinking likely saved the man from losing $30,000 to the scam.
Liberty PD wants to remind the public that legitimate businesses will never request payment through crypto machines.
Warnings have also been placed on every crypto ATM in Liberty.
Crypto ATM scams have become a quickly growing crime as the machines have spread across the metro. KMBC9 has covered multiple instances of attempted and successful scams.