Stolen cryptocurrency recovered for Oconee County scam victims

OCONEE COUNTY, Ga. - Elderly fraud victims in Oconee County have recovered cryptocurrency stolen in a scam after state and local investigators were able to trace and seize the funds.

What we know:

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said his office's White Collar and Cyber Crime Unit worked with the Oconee County Sheriff's Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to recover the stolen cryptocurrency.

According to authorities, the scam began when victims received pop-up messages on their computers claiming their bank accounts had been breached.

The victims then contacted people they believed were agents with the Federal Trade Commission. Instead, they were communicating with scammers who instructed them to withdraw money from their bank accounts and deposit it into cryptocurrency kiosks.

Investigators were ultimately able to trace the stolen cryptocurrency. Oconee County deputies, the GBI and Carr's White Collar and Cyber Crime Unit recovered the funds and returned them to the victims.

The case comes as Georgia implements additional protections aimed at preventing financial exploitation involving cryptocurrency kiosks.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation in July establishing several financial exploitation protections, including a requirement that virtual currency kiosks display warnings about the risks of transactions. The warning tells customers that losses from fraudulent or accidental transactions may not be recoverable and that virtual currency transactions are irreversible.

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