\n<\/p>\n
“There was a voice message that was coming on with this that said, ‘Don’t turn your computer on, don’t turn your computer off,'” she told CBS News.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reynolds was also instructed to call a phone number she was led to believe would provide her with tech support. Instead, she was connected to a\u00a0scam artist<\/a><\/span>\u00a0who claimed that hackers had obtained access to her bank account. The only way to protect her money was to convert the funds into bitcoin, the person told Reynolds.<\/p>\n She withdrew her entire bank account balance, which totaled $13,100, and followed the scammer’s directions to go to a bitcoin ATM at a nearby gas station. The ATM was operated by Athena Bitcoin, which has more than 4,000 such terminals across the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb said such incidents highlight the surge in cryptocurrency scams linked to bitcoin ATM providers, resulting in the theft of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n “Bitcoin ATMs are a tool that scammers, that criminals, are using to separate people, including D.C. residents, from their hard-earned money,” Schwalb told CBS News. “Athena, as a bitcoin operator, knows that its kiosks are being used by this element, and yet [has] failed to put proper anti-fraud prevention systems in place to keep it from happening.”<\/p>\n He added, “What makes it worse is they are profiting from this because they’re charging very substantial fees.”<\/p>\n