ALLEN COUNTY, Ohio, October 8 — The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation returned $15,300 to a 63-year-old Allen County woman who lost the money in a 2024 cryptocurrency scam. On October 8, 2026, BCI confirmed the full recovery after tracing and freezing the stolen funds through its Electronic Financial Investigations Unit. The woman had been tricked by a pop-up message claiming her computer was hacked, which directed her to call a fake Microsoft hotline.
After speaking with a scammer, she withdrew cash, converted it to cryptocurrency, and sent it via a crypto ATM. She reported the incident to the FBI, which referred the case to BCI.
Investigators worked with the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office to obtain a search warrant and recover the full amount. Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, whose office oversees BCI, warned that crypto ATMs are a favorite tool for scammers and urged consumers to be extremely cautious when asked to send cryptocurrency. Allen County Prosecutor Destiny Caldwell said scammers exploit the speed and confusion of cryptocurrency to target vulnerable individuals, often seniors, using tactics like fake tech-support claims, bail requests, virus removal scams, and fabricated romantic or pornographic extortion schemes.
Since the creation of its Electronic Financial Investigations Unit in 2024, BCI has assisted law enforcement with 309 fraud cases involving $5.6 million in losses tied to crypto ATMs, with victims losing an average of $18,767 per case. Crypto ATMs, commonly found in convenience stores and gas stations, allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrency with cash or credit cards, but transactions are irreversible and funds are difficult to trace.
The return of the full $15,300 marks a successful outcome in a case highlighting both the risks of crypto ATM fraud and the effectiveness of coordinated state-level financial investigations. Going forward, BCI and state prosecutors will continue to monitor crypto ATM activity and pursue recovery efforts in similar cases.
