Detectives in Kent today urged people to be alert to the scam following a data leak giving their personal details after nine people in the county were scammed out of their hard earned money
Nine people in the same county have fallen victim to a cryptocurrency scam which saw them lose a total of more that £1million, police have said.
Detectives in Kent today urged people to be alert to the scam following a data leak giving their personal details. A spokesperson for Kent Police said that recently nine people had come forward to report their losses.
The scam would see someone claiming to be a police officer contacting victims and reassuring them an investigation had been launched. The fake officer then told victims to “expect a call from the crypto wallet host” and they then received a second call from a person who said they were “a security officer”, they added
This caller reportedly asked for the victims’ seed phrase – a 12 or 24-word phrase that allows users to manage a cryptocurrency wallet. Fraudsters used that information to “rebuild the wallet”, steal funds and transfer them so they cannot be recovered, police said.
They said: “The victims had a combined loss of over £1 million after their personal information was shared online following a data leak,” said the spokesman. Personal details were taken from the data leak and used to generate fake Action Fraud reports. Once these reports were created the victims were then contacted by someone claiming to be a police officer reassuring them that an investigation had been launched. The ‘officer’ then told them to expect a call from the crypto wallet host.
“A second call was then received from someone claiming to be a security officer asking the victim for their seed phrase which is a 12 or 24-word phrase which allows users to control a cryptocurrency wallet. With that information the fraudsters were able to rebuild the wallet, steal the funds and transfer them so that they can’t be recovered.”
Detective Sergeant Darryll Paulson of Kent Police said: “I urge anyone contacted by someone claiming to be from a crypto host, or from the police, not to give out any personal details. Scammers are becoming increasingly more calculating in their methods to defraud their victims into losing a substantial amount of money and will often create urgency in the situation, such as telling them they need to act now to stop their funds from being stolen. Don’t be embarrassed about reporting a scam, it only takes a second to be distracted and fall victim.”
If you are not confident a caller is a genuine security or police officer then take their details and hang up. Wait at least five minutes for the call to clear before contacting 101 or 999 in an emergency. A call handler can verify if the caller is genuine. Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime.