Kanawha County warned of Bitcoin, AI fraud calls mimicking sheriff's office

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — The Kanawha County Sheriff's Office is urging people to be wary of recent Bitcoin and AI fraud that's sweeping the area. Sgt. Josh Lester said people are being fooled by Caller ID.

“In the last year we were seeing the spoofing calls when they were going to the schools and they were calling all the threats,” he said. “Now how they're spoofing the calls they've actually been able to create to where it appears like it's our telephone number."

The sheriff's office put out a press release Saturday that included examples of people losing more than $40,000 through Bitcoin and artificial intelligence schemes.

"I think the grand total is around $43,000 and some odd dollars that this person was you know scammed out of over this type of you know this this type of crime,” Sgt. Lester said.

He said these scammers are using fear tactics to get vulnerable people to pay this money.

"You've missed jury duty, we have arrest warrants for you, we're gonna come and get you,” Sgt. Lester listed examples. “Those types of things. And you know, it's really making people apprehensive. They want to resolve this they they are fearful of going to jail.”

Another common way that these scammers are getting people is by imitating their loved ones. Dr. Josh Brunty is an Associate Professor & Director of the Cyber Forensics & Security graduate program at Marshall University. He said it's so easy for AI to use other voices.

"Now you have individuals who can download an app and instantly, through a subscription or even free in many cases, can really match their voice to sound like anything, with an American accent. A female can change their voice to a male,” he described.

Bruty said it’s hard to prosecute these scammers as most of them are overseas.

"I think that traditionally we've seen a lot of that fraud happen from overseas and primarily overseas because the individuals overseas know that they can avoid prosecution,” he said. “They know that American authorities aren't necessarily going to be able to follow up with them or work with their governments with extradition and things of that nature.”

His advice is to look out for who claims to be calling and what they’re asking for.

“A reputable agency, a bank, a law enforcement agency, they're not going to ask you for money over the phone,” he said. “They're going to ask for different means. They're either going to do that through email or they're going to do it through multiple means."