Recently the Blaine, Minnesota Police Department issued a warning about a scam in which scammers are luring people into emptying their bank accounts and sending the money to the scammers through Bitcoin ATMs. The scam starts when a pop-up appears on their computer screen telling them to use a phone number provided in the pop-up to contact Microsoft support about suspicious charges on their bank account.  Upon calling the scammer, the victim is told that their bank would not be able to help them if the victim called the police and that if they did call the police, they would be put on a predatory offender list for Pornhub charges.  The victim is then directed to withdraw thousands of dollars from their bank account and using a QR code sent to the victim send the withdrawn funds through a Bitcoin ATM to a safe account in order to protect their funds.  Of course, the money sent by the victim through the Bitcoin ATM ends up in the digital wallet of the scammer who promptly cashes the account out and the funds are lost forever.

TIPS

This scam, like many scams, depends upon amygdala hijacking.  The amygdala, sometimes called the lizard brain is a part of our brain associated with emotions such as fear, greed and urgency.  Scammers will create the impression of an emergency that must be dealt with immediately and by hijacking the amygdala, people respond quickly without taking the time to rationally consider what is happening. The amygdala may have helped early mankind facing life or death emergencies that required immediate action and still may be useful in some instances today, but it can too easily be manipulated by scammers to convince their victims to act quickly without thinking.

Taking the time to think, a potential victim should recognize that Microsoft is not going to be sending pop-ups on your computer to inform you of problems with your bank account.  If there were a problem with your bank account, the most obvious first call should be to your bank.  Threats of the police putting someone on a non-existent predatory list for Pornhub charges is just another scare tactic appealing to the amygdala.  Most importantly anytime you are told to withdraw your funds and deposit them into another account you have not set up, it is a scam.  Plain and simple.

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