Editorial: Phone scam moves to new phase | Editorials

The latest scam alert from the Kingsport Police Department should focus both on the criminal act and a need for employee training. Combined, they are the best one-two punch deterrent.

Typically, phone scams involve individuals being conned out of their own money. Once they get you on the line, phone scammers use false promises, aggressive sales pitches and phony threats to pry loose information or money. It’s difficult to believe, but a survey last year found that in the previous 12 months, some 59 million Americans lost money to a phone scam. The average loss was $1,200.

Scammers use auto dialers to broadcast robocalls by the millions at low cost. Technology allows them to disguise the calling number as one that appears to be local to increase the chances that you’ll answer.

Whether live or automated, according to the AARP, scam callers often pose as representatives of government agencies or familiar tech, travel, retail or financial companies, supposedly calling with valuable information. It might be good news: You’re eligible for a big cash prize, or you’ve been selected for a great vacation deal. Or it might be bad news: You owe back taxes, or there’s a problem with your credit card account.

Whatever the issue, it can be resolved if you’ll just, say, provide your Social Security number or make an immediate payment by purchasing a gift card and forwarding the card number. Scammers may impersonate charity fundraisers or even a relative, playing on your generosity or family bonds to get you to fork over money.

Now there’s a new twist where scammers instruct the victim to deposit cash into a Bitcoin — the most well-known of several cryptocurrencies — depository, as was the case with an employee of a Kingsport convenience store.

Kingsport police said the employee received a call from someone claiming to be from corporate headquarters. The caller told the employee to take all the money from the register and safe and transport it to a location that had a Bitcoin depository.

The employee was instructed to deposit the money. Police said the caller texted the employee a Bitcoin deposit QR code and then sent an Uber to pick her up. Police said the store lost $4,500 after the employee deposited the money.

The KPD says cryptocurrency is becoming more prevalent as a factor in fraud and scam investigations, and there have been reports of other scams. Police said Green Dot money cards were the preferred form of payment requested by con artists. But now, Bitcoin seems to be the new go-to form of payment, as it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover the funds once they are released from the victim.

The KPD’s Criminal Investigations Division is investigating, and police said federal or state agencies would be called to help, if warranted.

“Our detectives will certainly enlist the assistance of other local, state or federal law enforcement agencies if we believe it will help with an investigation,” police said.

Better training that emphasizes heavy skepticism, warning signs and questions to ask would-be scammers might have prevented this incident. That an employee could empty the cash register and safe based on a phone call from an unknown individual demonstrates a huge training failure. Businesses should take immediate notice and prepare their employees while law enforcement continues to attempt to crack down on scammers.