The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, is investigating two Bitcoin (BTC) scams in Strathcona County in Alberta, Canada. They claim that the scammers posed as local authorities in order to extort money from their victims.

According to The Sherwood Park News on June 16, one of the victims received a call from a person claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency, or CRA. The other victim said the con man claimed to be an RCMP officer.

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Deposit money in a Bitcoin machine
The authority’s report says that both unidentified Alberta County residents were asked to withdraw cash from a bank and deposit it in a Bitcoin machine. They were told that if these funds were not paid, the fraudsters would arrest them.

The victim who was contacted by the fake CRA representative lost almost $12,000 CAD ($8,836) because of the scam.

The phony RCMP officer told the other victim that her insurance number had been compromised, stating that there were several fraud allegations against her. The scammer asked the victim to withdraw money from the bank and then, as in the other case, deposit it in a Bitcoin kiosk.

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The total amount lost in the scam
The RCMP stated that individuals lost more than 21,000 CAD ($15,460) in total during the scam. They warned people to contact the RCMP immediately if they experienced suspicious and apparently fraudulent extortion attempts. They also noted that citizens could consult the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s website for information.

Chantelle Kelly, a Strathcona County RCMP officer, commented:

„There are no circumstances in which the police will contact people who request Bitcoin. These scammers often contact hundreds of people hoping that someone will send them money.

On May 2, Cointelegraph reported on a series of scam emails sent from Japan asking people to donate BTC to the organization of the Olympic Games in Tokyo.