McCracken County Sheriff's Office warns of bitcoin, bond scams

MCCCRACKEN COUNTY, Ky. — The McCracken County Sheriff's Office issued warnings Friday for a bitcoin scam as well as a scam targeting the families of incarcerated individuals.

MCSO stated that the agency has received several calls regarding the bitcoin scam. According to MCSO, the scammers are calling people through a restricted phone number multiple times a day in an attempt to alarm them.

The scammers state that the victim missed jury duty and has a federal warrant out for their arrest, MCSO stated. The scammers then ask for the victim to deposit money into a bitcoin machine in order to remove the warrant, with sums totaling thousands of dollars.

According to MCSO, there have also been scams targeting the families of incarcerated individuals. Scammers claim that the family member can be bonded out if the victim purchases preloaded Visa cards, loads the cards with money and then provides the scammer with the card information.

The sheriff's office emphasized that these are scams and that law enforcement will not request funds, banking information or personal details by phone.