Crypto

Scam so convincing victim ignores police, puts thousands into Cryptocurrency ATM

Published

1 month ago

December 6, 2025

Scam so convincing victim ignores police, puts thousands into Cryptocurrency ATM

WESTLAKE, Ohio (WJW) — Police in Westlake said a computer scam artist was so convincing in the story he pitched to an elderly victim that she put thousands of dollars into a Cryptocurrency ATM, even after store employees and officers pleaded with her to stop.

On Nov. 26, police were alerted by an employee at a Marathon convenience store on Center Ridge Road that a 71-year-old woman was feeding a large amount of cash into a Bitcoin ATM, while speaking with someone on her cell phone. The employee warned the woman that it appeared she was the target of a scam, but she refused to listen and kept pumping money into the machine.

On body camera video obtained by Fox 8 News, an officer approached the woman and told her, “We deal with this all the time, stop what you’re doing, I’m telling you, stop. If somebody tells you to do this, you are being scammed.” The woman responded, “They’re on the phone; they can hear everything.” The officer then told her, “Right, and they’re scamming you.”

However, the 71-year-old ignored repeated warnings from officers, after being persuaded by a scammer posing as a bank fraud investigator, that she needed to put $18,000 into the crypto machine, or risk having her life savings stolen from her account.

The officer told her, “Stop what you’re doing, you’re going to lose this money. They’re lying to you; that’s not how it works, I promise you. They’re lying, they don’t tell you to go to a gas station and go buy Bitcoin, I’m telling you, you should stop what you’re doing.”

Officers eventually convinced the woman to stop putting cash into the ATM, but not before she lost $5,500.

The victim later told investigators the elaborate scam began earlier that day, when she received a pop-up message on her computer, indicating it was infected with a virus. A number was provided to get help, which put her in the clutches of the scam artist.

WPD Captain Jerry Vogel told Fox 8, “She sees the pop-up, so she knows that there is an issue. Unfortunately, now the scammers use that and say, ‘Hey, it looks like maybe someone has been planting pornography or some other illicit material on your computer, you’re going to be in some trouble if you don’t get this money out of your bank and put it into a crypto machine.”

The scammer told the victim that bank employees would ask her questions about why she was taking out so much money from her account. He even gave her a story to tell, which was that she needed the cash to buy a car.

The woman told detectives, “He said, ‘Do this, do that, go here, go there.’” The final piece of the scam came when the con artist sent a QR code to the victim’s phone, which she used to direct the funds loaded into the ATM to his crypto account.

“They weave these stories so well that the victims really believe they need to do this immediately,” said Captain Vogel.

While there is no guarantee the victim will be able to recover the money she put into the ATM, detectives were able to use new technology to immediately freeze the crypto wallet being used by the scammer. It’s part of an ongoing battle between law enforcement and cyber criminals.

According to Captain Vogel, “We take one step forward, they take another step forward, so it’s a cat and mouse game.”

Related Topics:Bitcoin cryptocurrency scam Westlake News

Click to comment

Crypto

Financially Settled Cryptocurrency Futures Vendor Symbols | Cboe

Published

2 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

Financially Settled Cryptocurrency Futures Vendor Symbols | Cboe

Financially Settled Ether (“FET”) Futures

Vendor	Front Month	M25 Contract
Activ Financial / Options Technology	FET/*.CF	FET/25M.CF
BarChart	Y9*0	Y9M5
Bloomberg	FET = FTEA Curncy	FET = FTEA Curncy
CQG	FET?	FETM25
DevExperts	/FETM25:XCBF	/FETM25:XCBF
DTN IQ	@FET	@FETM25
DTN ProphetX	@FET	@FETM25
Factset	FET.1-USA	FETM25-USA, FETM25-CBF
Interactive Data / ICE	F2:FET1C	F2:FETM25
LiveVol	N/A	FETM25
Morningstar	FET0Y	FETM25
PICO	FET/M5 June 2025	FET/M5 June 2025
Silexx	N/A	FET/M25
Six-Group	FET	FET5M or FETM5
TradeStation	FETM25	FETM25
Trading Technologies	FET Jun25	FET Jun25

Financially Settled Bitcoin (“FBT”) Futures

Vendor	Front Month	M25 Contract
Activ Financial / Options Technology	FBT/*.CF	FBT/25M.CF
BarChart	Y7*0	Y7M5
Bloomberg	FBT = FXBA Curncy	FBT = FXBA Curncy
CQG	FBT?	FBTM25
DevExperts	/FBTM25:XCBF	/FBTM25:XCBF
DTN IQ	@FBT	@FBTM25
DTN ProphetX	@FBT	@FBTM25
Factset	FBTC.1-USA	FBTCM25-USA, FBTCM25-CBF
Interactive Data / ICE	F2:FBT1C	F2:FBTM25
LiveVol	N/A	FBTM25
Morningstar	FBT0Y	FBTM25
PICO	FBT/M5 June 2025	FBT/M5 June 2025
Silexx	N/A	FBT/M25
Six-Group	FBT	FBT5M or FBT5M
TradeStation	FBTM25	FBTM25
Trading Technologies	FBT Jun25	FBT Jun25

Crypto

XRP Stalls Despite Bullish Developments and Ripple’s Institutional Momentum

Published

14 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

XRP Stalls Despite Bullish Developments and Ripple’s Institutional Momentum

XRP is consolidating near a key level as Ripple expands its regulated global finance footprint, signaling patience in price action while adoption, institutional integration, and regulatory clarity quietly strengthen the crypto asset’s long-term foundation.

Crypto

This Popular Cryptocurrency Could Soar by 177% in 2026, According to Wall Street Analyst Tom Lee

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

This Popular Cryptocurrency Could Soar by 177% in 2026, According to Wall Street Analyst Tom Lee

Key Points

Ethereum is the leading platform for developers who want to build decentralized software applications, which are popular in areas like gaming and finance.
Ether, which is Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency, set a new record high during 2025, but it ended the year in the red.
Wall Street analyst Tom Lee thinks Ether could soar in the early stages of 2026, and he chairs a company that owns over $13 billion worth of coins.

Cryptocurrencies had a tough year in 2025, with most popular coins and tokens suffering losses. Not even the industry leaders like Bitcoin and Ethereum(CRYPTO: ETH) were spared, ending the year down 5% and 11%, respectively.

But 2026 is here, and Wall Street analyst Tom Lee recently came out with a set of very bullish forecasts. He thinks Ether, which is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, could soar to $9,000 per coin early in the year, implying a potential upside of 177% from where it’s trading as I write this.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Lee founded Fundstrat Global Advisors, but he’s also the chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies(NYSEMKT: BMNR), which owns approximately $13.4 billion worth of Ethereum, so he certainly has some skin in the game. How realistic is his latest forecast?

Image source: Getty Images.

What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a platform where people develop decentralized software applications, which are increasingly popular in industries like gaming and financial services. These apps are governed by smart contracts, which are pieces of computer code that live on the Ethereum blockchain. They typically can’t be changed, so no person or company can manipulate the app’s core set of rules, ensuring it stays decentralized.

The Ethereum network itself is also completely decentralized. Instead of using one large data center, it’s hosted on thousands of nodes (computers) all over the world that store an updated copy of its blockchain. Therefore, the network won’t be compromised even if some nodes go down, and that’s how Ethereum has boasted 100% uptime over the last decade.

Ether is like the fuel that makes the Ethereum network function. Every time a person activates a smart contract by using an app, or even transfers a crypto token built on Ethereum, they incur a fee that is payable in Ether. Therefore, the larger the network grows, the more demand there is for Ether, and the more valuable the coin becomes (in theory).

Thousands of decentralized apps have been built on Ethereum so far. Uniswap, for instance, is a popular exchange where people can trade their cryptocurrencies for other cryptocurrencies. Pricing and execution is handled entirely by smart contracts with no intermediaries, creating a lightning-fast and cost-effective experience. Users don’t even need to create an account, because they can connect their crypto wallets directly to Uniswap and immediately start transacting.

How realistic is Lee’s target?

Tom Lee thinks decentralized apps will take over the financial industry, and as the largest platform of its kind, he’s betting Ethereum will lead the transition. The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, is already exploring plans to tokenize some of its exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by moving them onto the blockchain, where they can trade more efficiently compared to using traditional stock exchanges.

That is just one example suggesting Lee could eventually be right. But the growing adoption of stablecoins — many of which are built on Ethereum — is another sign. These cryptocurrencies are designed to maintain a stable value (hence their name), and they can be sent anywhere in the world practically instantly. Therefore, they are far more efficient than traditional payment rails that often take several days to move money across borders.

According to Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management, over $15 trillion in payment volume was processed using stablecoins in 2024, which was more volume than both Visa and Mastercard processed.

But could all of this send Ether soaring by 177% to $9,000 per coin in the early stages of 2026? I’m not so sure. Ether climbed to a record price of $4,946 per coin in 2025, which was a win for investors, but it was the first new high in four years. Plus, the coin has already lost 32% of its peak value, so I’m not sure if it can muster enough momentum to almost triple in value in the next few months like Lee predicts.

With that said, $9,000 per coin would give Ether a market capitalization of around $1.08 trillion, so it would still be much smaller than Bitcoin, which has a market cap of $1.85 trillion. Therefore, I wouldn’t rule out Lee’s target, especially if the decentralized revolution continues to gather momentum, but I would certainly be cautious about the timing. Plus, it’s important to remember Lee chairs the BitMine Immersion Technologies company, which owns 4.1 million Ether coins, so he has a vested interest in putting forward highly bullish targets.

Should you buy stock in Ethereum right now?

Before you buy stock in Ethereum, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Ethereum wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $488,222!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,134,333!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 969% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 196% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of January 10, 2026.

Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, Mastercard, and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends BlackRock. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.