Big Sky Times

The Montana Department of Justice’s Office of Consumer Protection (OCP) is receiving reports of fraudsters posing as law enforcement, attempting to scam unsuspecting Montanans out of thousands of dollars by claiming there is a warrant for their arrest due to missed jury duty.

The scammers are directing individuals to go to the bank, withdraw cash, and then deposit the funds into bitcoin machines or ATMs, such as Coinstar kiosks. They also instruct victims not to disclose their actions. The scammers possess personal information, such as names and addresses, of the individuals they target.

Currently, all reports have come from Lewis and Clark County. OCP investigators were able to prevent two people from falling victim to the scam over the phone and interdicted another instance Thursday at a bitcoin machine in Helena.