APPLETON, Wis. (WBAY) — Last year, victims in Wisconsin reported losing $43 million to cryptocurrency scams.

In a Consumer First Alert, we talked with a detective on the frontlines investigating crypto crimes happening in our neighborhoods.

How scammers target victims unfamiliar with cryptocurrency

We’ve been sharing victims’ scam stories.

“I was shaking. I was crying. I was inconsolable. I couldn’t believe what I had just done,” said Beth, a Fox Valley woman who exposed the scam that started with a computer pop-up warning and led her to a Bitcoin machine in January.

“So I started putting the money in, and putting the money in…and putting money in. Stopped, show my license, put the money in again,” Beth said.

Most victims of this growing crypto crime are like Beth, who asked us not to use her last name.

“Never saw a Bitcoin machine before, had no idea,” she said.

But investigators say scammers are convincing.

“We’ve had uniformed officers and detectives even trying to intercept these individuals while they’re at the machines, and the victims will still be adamant that it’s real and will not listen to our officers,” said Sgt. Sheldon Pedranzan with the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office.

Crime exceeds bank robberies

With more Bitcoin kiosks showing up in gas stations and stores, Pedranzan has seen scams escalate.

“It used to be bank robberies were the biggest crime in the world. Bigger than bank robberies at this point,” he said.

“This is one that we definitely are not immune to in Northeast Wisconsin. Globally there’s been about $158 billion worth of illicit digital asset funds. But then in the U.S., there’s been 4.8 billion that are due to cryptocurrency scams. And then even in Wisconsin, it was $43 million even in a year for victims that have lost money within the crypto world because of these scams,” Pedranzan said.

“I’ve had some victims that have lost close to a million dollars in some of these scams,” Pedranzan said.

Time is critical for cryptocurrency crime investigations

Pedranzan says when a scammer directs a victim to deposit cash into a crypto ATM, time is critical.

“Time is of the essence, really, for these cases. Prior to a couple of years ago, we were unable to do anything for our victims,” Pedranzan said.

“Once it is sent off into, we will call it ‘Crypto Land,’ these criminal organizations are very good at what they do, and they begin to launder the money,” he said.

New technology helps track stolen cryptocurrency

But now with a crypto crime fighting tool new to Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department, Pedranzan shows how they track the funds scammers steal.

“You can see just how many transactions will occur in a very short amount of time,” he said.

“This is a great visual to kind of show just how quickly the funds move and what they’re doing with them,” Pedranzan said.

“So the software that we are able to utilize, which is a blockchain analysis tool, it assists us in being able to recognize some of these patterns and to be able to plot it down into a map so it makes sense, not only for our sake as far as the investigator to be able to follow, but ultimately at some point if we are successful in recovering some of these funds, we also have to be able to show that to, you know, a judge or the district attorney’s office that can process this and get them to understand it, because a lot of people aren’t familiar with the digital asset world,” Pedranzan said.

Without revealing investigative techniques, he explains the challenge.

“If I’m chasing $10,000, and now all of a sudden they’re putting maybe 3,000 will take a direction, start spider webbing off over here, then I have to follow another 2,000 and then it just keeps either splitting,” he said.

He says most money moves overseas, making these crimes difficult to track and prosecute.

“To actually locate each individual transaction is where you have to go through and do all the hard work,” Pedranzan said.

Quick reporting leads to recovery success

But quick reporting by victims, as in Beth’s case, makes her one of the lucky ones.

“I said, ‘Call the police,’” Beth said.

“We are able to basically follow it very quickly and get ahead of it to be able to recover those funds. So time really matters. And also for these ATM companies, there is some liability on their side,” Pedranzan said.

“The reality is these ATMs do profit off of even the victims. They want to deter it, but they don’t necessarily want to draw attention to it,” he said.

Warning signs reduce crypto scams by 90%

The sheriff’s department is drawing attention to the scams with warning signs at Bitcoin ATMs in the county.

“We approached pretty much every business or gas station in the area that had some of these ATMs and asked if we could place additional placards on,” Pedranzan said.

It’s made a difference.

“We now have probably reduced the number of these cases by probably 90%,” he said.

“Or it gets them just enough of a pause to kind of get them to second-guess it and to think whether or not this is something they should be doing,”

Sergeant Pedranzan encourages people to be cautious and report these crypto crimes immediately.

“Some of these, really, the stars have to align before we can even potentially recover the money for them. So step one is just reporting it and seeing if there is something that we can take action on and potentially get that money back for them,” Pedranzan said.

If you think you’ve been scammed or need information, call the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office at (920) 832-5000.

Consumer First Alert’s report on counterfeit Pokémon cards will be featured on national TV, on Friday’s InvestigateTV+ at 3:30 on WBAY-TV.

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