Colorado Resident Scammed Out of Thousands in Bitcoin by Fake Jury Duty Call

3 min read

Nov 4, 2024

A Keystone, Colorado resident fell victim to a sophisticated crypto scam last week, losing over $6,000 in Bitcoin after fraudsters posed as law enforcement officials threatening arrest for missed jury duty, according to the Summit County Sheriff's Office.

According to documentation reviewed by Decrypt, an additional $4,000 transfer was in the works, though deputies were able to intervene before it pushed through.

Despite this, the Summit County Sheriff's Office disclosed that the perpetrators had already obtained sensitive personal information during the call.

"A deputy will never call anyone to notify them of a warrant for their arrest and then offer to clear it in exchange for gift cards, wire transfers, or Bitcoin," the office stated in its incident report.

Call logs from the report indicate that similar incidents continue to emerge across the state, with a separate incident in Denver describing how a woman lost almost $5,000 in Bitcoin after scammers impersonating Denver Police officers convinced her she had missed jury duty.

The victim, believing she must have overlooked a jury notice, followed the perpetrator's instructions to clear a fake warrant by sending payment through a Bitcoin ATM.

Upon contacting Denver Police to confirm the transaction, she discovered she had been defrauded. Though her bank has been notified of the fraud, the patrol report claims that "it's not likely the money will be recovered."

The case mirrors a September incident where Keystone bank staff prevented another resident from transferring $8,000 in crypto after receiving similar fraudulent calls. Scammers have increasingly adopted number spoofing techniques to make calls appear to originate from legitimate law enforcement agencies.

Colorado's crypto fraud landscape has expanded significantly, with state investigators documenting over 1,300 cases totaling $81 million in losses during 2023. The state ranks 15th nationally for crypto-related crimes, according to law enforcement data.

FBI Denver also issued a warning earlier this year in relation to token impersonation scams, including high-profile cases where some $3.2 million in crypto was allegedly misappropriated by a pastor and his wife, targeting victims through their Christian community, shilling a token called INDXcoin.

"These scammers can be aggressive and persuasive," the Sheriff's Office warned, noting that crypto transactions are particularly attractive to fraudsters due to their irreversible nature and difficulty in tracing funds once transferred.

While transactions in crypto are generally irreversible due to the concept of immutability for blockchains, recent work in reversible transactions through Ethereum was forwarded by researchers from Stanford University.

Private-led initiatives to help out victims of crypto scams have also been launched to counter these incidents. You may also check out Decrypt’s guide on how to protect yourself from such scams.