I have an elderly family member who was scammed out of a nice chunk of money with Bitcoin being involved.

I know nothing about Bitcoin except what I can Google so I am of little to no help in possibly getting the money back. BUT, what I was able to Google and what the story is, there may be a possibility of her getting her money back. Below is what I know about the Bitcoin part of the scam:

She was told to go get lots of cash and was then told to go to a certain location that had a Bitcoin ATM. She was told to follow the instructions on the ATM. She inserted the money and had to show her drivers license and some other stuff and was sent a receipt and was sent a QR code, and that was it, she left the location with the digital receipt and QR code on her phone.

From what I read on Google, she would not have been able to purchase the Bitcoin without having an app which has the wallet that the Bitcoin goes into. She never set up a wallet to put the Bitcoin into, so was the Bitcoin actually sent to the scammers or is it in limbo until she sets up a wallet?

I told her that her money is most likely gone and never to be returned, but if she by some kind of luck mucked up the transaction and can get her money back, I would like to know how to possibly help her. Thanks for any help with this matter, as I am dumb with regards to Bitcoin.

Show some other stuff.

What did she show? If she scanned something via her phone it's likely gone

Yukon Cornelius said:

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Show some other stuff.

What did she show? If she scanned something via her phone it's likely gone

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She said she had to show the front and back of her DL and give her phone number. Yes, she did this stuff over the phone while talking to the scammers.

She was never given any code or anything from those on the phone. I am hoping that since she never set up a digital wallet that the money is in digital limbo. Without putting the money in a digital wallet and then sending it to an account (I don't know how this works to be honest), how did the scammers get the money? She did get a digital receipt and a QR code, what would these be for?

Well it's possible the QR code could be scanned maybe although I'm not sure that's how they work.

Not sure what exactly these are for, but did she send pictures/screenshots of the QR code to the scammers?

What on earth prompted this? Not judging, just hoping to protect my family…

AggieT said:

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Not sure what exactly these are for, but did she send pictures/screenshots of the QR code to the scammers?

What on earth prompted this? Not judging, just hoping to protect my family…

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From what I was told, she had an "issue" with her computer in which she was prompted to call a number to ensure her data was not stolen.........you know where this goes from here. Praying on the olds and they found a willing one.

Completely understand… have had a few issues with family as well. Unfortunately.

She had to have scanned or entered in a wallet address before completing the lurchase

Scammers gave her their wallet address, so she sent the money directly to them via the Bitcoin ATM. Tracing the wallet address is fruitless because they could be in Russia, Nigeria, or anywhere in the world and I'm sure they have already moved the funds to multiple new addresses. Doesn't hurt to contact the police and raise awareness about these types of scams, but very unlikely any of the money can be recovered.

Society has scammers that sit and call people all day everyday trying to run these scams. It's a painful lesson, but as our friends and loved ones age they lose their ability to manage their money successfully, and often times are lonely, so they are more apt to answer these calls and give the scammers an opportunity to confuse and cheat them out of their money. My wife and I had to step in and help each of our four parents who all fell victim to similar types of scams (target gift cards a couple of times). This event may be the catalyst to have the hard conversation that your loved one may need someone to help them manage their money.

Whats the amount where a bank manager or teller asks "ma'm what are you doing?"

do banks have systems set up to 'restrict' the amount withdrawn? is this something that can be set up with a bank and a family member?

we bank small town locally, but wonder how a big bank with multiple branches would manage that process.

i know bank personnel are supposed to be trained on this, but how does it work in practice

Sorry OP. I have had a family member scammed out of a lot of money where crypto was involved. It is gone. I know it's stupid and you can't fix stupid, but this is against the law and law enforcement needs to evolve to protect citizens from these crimes.

Aggie@state.gov said:

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Whats the amount where a bank manager or teller asks "ma'm what are you doing?"

do banks have systems set up to 'restrict' the amount withdrawn? is this something that can be set up with a bank and a family member?

we bank small town locally, but wonder how a big bank with multiple branches would manage that process.

i know bank personnel are supposed to be trained on this, but how does it work in practice

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You can disable things like ATM withdrawals or requiring additional verification steps for withdrawals.

Restrict online purchases or in person purchases over a certain amount.

If someone really needs help best course of action is to just remove money control which is obviously controversial. I had a family member go out one day and buy like 100k worth of jewelry. Her keys were taken after that and now she's in memory care.