NJ Police Warn of Bitcoin Phone Scam After Man Lost $19K

JACKSON — A resident reported to authorities Tuesday that he had been the victim of a phone scam, the nature of which township police are now alerting others in the community to be aware.

According to a Facebook post from the Jackson Police Department on Thursday, the man told Officer Matthew Cilento that a male caller, unknown to him, contacted him claiming to be a U.S. Marshal with Border Patrol in Texas.

Police then said that the caller informed the victim he would need to verify his identity, or else an arrest warrant would be issued and the victim's bank accounts would be frozen.

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The victim reported that he was instructed to move his money from a bank account into a Bitcoin terminal, take pictures of any receipts, and send them to the caller, with the promise of the money being returned the next day.

Police said the man wound up depositing $19,000 into Bitcoin, but reported the encounter to them hours later.

"Law enforcement agencies will not contact you by telephone seeking payments in Bitcoin to verify your identity or to avoid having a warrant issued for your arrest," the JPD Facebook post said. "Do not provide these callers with any bank account information or obtain gift cards or make deposits into electronic accounts for them."

The police department further advised residents to report any such incidents to the Federal Trade Commission.