Resident defrauded of $8,000 after drug claim

A Bloomfield Township resident was scammed out of $8,000 after she received a phone call from someone claiming to be an FBI agent, and lured her into depositing the money into bitcoin machines at gas stations. The resident, who lives in the 1500 block of Orchard Lane, contacted Bloomfield Township police on Saturday, October 10, on a fraud complaint. She informed officers she had received a phone call from someone claiming to be an FBI agent, who told her she was under investigation for drug trafficking in El Paso, Texas. The caller then told the victim to withdraw money from her bank account and deposit it in a bitcoin machine, which is untraceable. The victim withdrew $8,000 from her bank account and deposited it into two separate bitcoin machines located inside Shell gas stations in the city of Southfield. On October 10, the resident told her son what she had done, and he immediately called the police to file a report. “Bloomfield Township police would like to remind the public that no government or law enforcement agency would every instruct you to pay for fines or services using bitcoin,” said Bloomfield Township Lt. Paul Schwab of the investigations division. The case is currently under investigation.