Irwin man scammed out of nearly $18K in Bitcoin scheme

IRWIN, Pa. — A man from Irwin was scammed out of nearly $18,000 from someone who claimed he was with an online security company.

Pennsylvania State Police in Greensburg said the victim reported the scam on Nov. 18. He said he was contacted by a man who said he was with McAfee Security and that he accidentally put $20,000 into the victim’s bank account as a refund instead of $2,000.

The scammer told the victim he needed to transfer the money back via Bitcoin, state police said. He was told to withdraw the money from his bank and then take it to a gas station and use the Bitcoin Kiosk to purchase the cryptocurrency.

The victim bought $17,900 worth of Bitcoin, state police said. The scammer told him to send a copy of the receipt with his account number and log in information. The scammer used that information to take the cryptocurrency.

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