LEAWOOD, Kan. — A random, mysterious text you receive could be from a scammer.
Police in Leawood want the public to be aware of an uptick in crimes that involve scammers seeking payment in cryptocurrency.
Seventy-year old Larry Klein said the scammers who contacted him on Monday were very persuasive. He says they first contacted him through a text message, saying they needed him to call for a refund related to an account he didn’t recognize.
Klein told Leawood Police officers the scammers, who appear to be from overseas, convinced him to deposit $25,000 into an account using a Bitcoin ATM.
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“By the time I got home, that’s when I walked in and my wife and daughters said ‘you’ve been scammed.’ I broke down and that was it,” Klein said.
Scams like this are growing more common, according to police investigators, who say scammers tend to focus on seniors.
“They literally mind-altered me. I was like a zombie. I was in a zone, and couldn’t get out of it,” Klein said, describing the convincing tactics the scammers used.