When somETHing becomes mainstream, we have to expect that some people will abuse it in some shape or form. In the case of cryptocurrency, we have seen several crypto scams surface over the past two years. The latest is a Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) scam, announced this week by the NYPD.

Here’s what we know.

Everything We Know About the Latest Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Scam

On Tuesday, April 30, the NYPD warned the masses of an ongoing Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) scam, in which callers are impersonating government officials and requesting payments in Bitcoin (available on Coinbase).

According to the report, scammers are pretending to be from the Social Security Administration (SSA); they are using spoofing technology to manipulate caller IDs to show the numbers of the SSA. Scammers then tell victims that their Social Security number has been used either to open new accounts or in some kind of money laundering operation. To resolve this problem, the scammers are asking victims to send money. Most commonly they are asking for Bitcoin (available on Coinbase), which is why many are calling it the latest crypto scam. As for the NYPD, they are referring to it as a phone scam, as scammers have also asked to be paid in bank wire transfers or prepaid gift cards.

According to the department, these scammers have stolen more than $2 million in 2019 so far. “Victims of this type of phone scam are not limited to senior citizen,” said Chief of Community Affairs Nilda Hofmann. “If you even suspect a call to be fraudulent, don’t take a chance, just hang up.”