Crossville-Cumberland County Crimestoppers Issues Scam Warning

The Crossville-Cumberland County Crimestoppers is seeing an increase in scams lately. Gift Card scams are still out there as well as a relatively new one involving Bitcoin and other forms of Crypto-Currency. Potential victims are contacted by phone calls or emails stating that something of theirs has been hacked exposing bank information. They are requested to purchase gift cards and scratch off the code on the back of the card. If you do this the money on that card is gone and can not be recovered. Or victims are sent to Bitcoin ATMs and told to insert cash into these machines to resolve the issues. Once the money is put into the machine it is gone immediately. Scammers are very convincing in the stories that they tell and usually target the elderly people in our community. No legitimate company will ever ask for a Gift Card or Crypto-currency as a form of payment. Please take the time to share to warn your family members and loved ones so they don’t fall victim to such scams. If you receive a notification like this or have been a victim of one of these scams, please notify law enforcement and report it.