July 1 proved lucrative for scammers targeting Jefferson County residents, with more than $30,000 stolen in two separate Bitcoin-related fraud cases.

Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens, in speaking with The Examiner, confirmed that both incidents occurred Monday afternoon, within the same hour – between 3 and 4 p.m. – but investigators found no evidence linking the two.

The first victim lost approximately $2,000 after receiving a fraudulent McAfee security alert. According to Stephens, scammers hijacked the man’s computer, posing as the software company and warning of a critical update that required immediate attention. The victim was ultimately convinced to visit a Bitcoin ATM located at a station off Highway 90 and deposit the funds.

Stephens noted there is no reason to believe the business or its employees were complicit.

“Legitimate transactions are done at these machines outside of isolated fraudulent activity,” she said.

The second case involved a more elaborate scam. The victim received a phone call from someone claiming to be a deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. The caller said the man had missed jury duty and would be arrested unless he paid his fine via Bitcoin ATM.

According to Stephens, the first Bitcoin machine the victim used was on College Street; however, the scammer said the transaction did not go through. After the third $10,000 transaction was completed at a kiosk off of Eastex Freeway, the scammer advised the victim to seek reimbursement for the first two transactions at the sheriff’s office. It wasn’t until the victim arrived at the sheriff’s office that they realized they had been scammed.

By the time law enforcement attempted to retrieve the funds, it was too late.

“I told my guys to just go get the machine and get the money out, but each transaction has an account associated with it, and the money that he put in was already disbursed,” said Stephens. “There’s no way to trace it or get it back after that.”

“We have run Facebook posts, put warnings out in newspaper, TV, every way that we can think of, but this keeps happening,” she added. “I just need people to know that, if you have a warrant for your arrest, there is no amount of money you can pay to just make that go away. If someone has a legitimate warrant, they have to be arrested, processed, booked in and bond out at the jail. None of those transactions are done by phone.”

Just down the road in Jasper County, another family fell victim to a costly Bitcoin scam — but this case came with a swift response that was able to retrieve the stolen funds.  On June 16, around 5 p.m., the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office was notified that a local family had been scammed out of $25,000 deposited at a Bitcoin ATM located in neighboring Hardin County.

With assistance from Investigator David Lampman and the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office, authorities secured and executed a state search warrant. Law enforcers discovered the victim’s funds inside a Bitcoin kiosk-style ATM and successfully seized $31,900 in total, which was returned to Jasper County pending a seizure hearing. While the physical funds were recovered, Sheriff Chuck Havard confirmed that the search for the online scammers responsible is ongoing, and he is awaiting the seizure hearing.

Bitcoin ATM scams rely on convincing victims to transfer money directly to a scammer’s digital wallet. Fraudsters often impersonate trusted authorities – such as law enforcement, government agencies or utility companies – and create a false sense of urgency to scare people into compliance.

In other schemes, scammers build trust through online relationships, often romantic or business-related, before asking victims to scan a QR code or visit a Bitcoin ATM to send money. The QR codes are typically sent via text or email and link directly to the scammer’s wallet.

Warning signs include demands for Bitcoin-only payment, pressure to act immediately, unfamiliar wallet addresses or QR codes, and secrecy.

“This isn’t just elderly people being targeted these days,” said Stephens. “I think it’s people who are not plugged-in to modern technology that aren’t familiar with the nature of things such as Bitcoin machines. These are often very intelligent people that get caught up in these scams.”

She added, “This is a new age, and I guarantee you, by the end of the week, the entire Jefferson County sheriff’s department will be familiar with Bitcoin and the ins and outs of how these modern scammers are cheating our citizens out of their hard-earned money.”

Authorities are urging residents to stay vigilant, double-check unusual requests for money and report suspicious activity immediately.

– Barbara@TheExaminer.com