LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – The Lincoln Police Department said a family of three lost roughly $700,000 in a cryptocurrency scam.
LPD was alerted about the scam on Monday when a family explained they’d invested in cryptocurrency for several months and now their accounts were locked.
Police said the family was directed online from one website to another to invest and create accounts.
The victims are 39-years-old, 43-years-old and 77-years-old. LPD said in total the family lost $700,000 in this scam but individually the 39-year-old lost $220,00, the 43-year-old lost $335,000 and the 77-year-old lost $145,000.
According to LPD, the family explained that they were told to invest more cryptocurrency to get their accounts unlocked.
Investigators said it’s not clear if the $700,000 loss was in cryptocurrency or U.S. currency.
Anyone with information is asked to call (402) 441-6000 or Lincoln Crime Stoppers at (402) 475-3600.
How to avoid a cryptocurrency scam
According to the Better Business Bureau, cryptocurrency accounted for the second highest scam losses reported to the Federal Trade Commission in 2021, with losses of $750 million.
- Guard your wallet. If you buy cryptocurrency, the security of the wallet is of prime importance. If you lose the key, then your funds are gone permanently.
- Look carefully at email addresses and website addresses. Phishing scams often try to trick people into logging in and then capture the log in credentials. Those then can be used to steal money. Looking for…
