SINGAPORE - Scammers are turning to bitcoin machines to cheat their victims and avoid detection by the police.
Last month, police officers from Bukit Merah East Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) prevented at least two victims from buying bitcoins under the instructions of scammers in separate cases.
In the first case, a man was in the midst of buying bitcoins at a machine in Hong Lim Complex when police officers approached him.
The man, who only wanted to be known as Mr J, said a woman contacted him on an online dating platform in September.
The pair began chatting via text messaging, phone calls and, at times, video calls.
"After about two weeks of talking, we became friends, and she started to ask me for money to help with an issue she had," said Mr J, who agreed to be interviewed on Monday (Dec 30) to warn others. He declined to reveal his age or occupation.
"But each time she would ask for more and more money," he added, noting that the woman asked him to transfer the money to at least four or five different bank accounts. He did not wish to reveal the total amount he gave her.
On the final occasion in the last week of November, the woman asked Mr J to purchase some bitcoins for her from a bitcoin machine.
Police officers from Bukit Merah NPC who were stationed in the vicinity of Hong Lim Complex, spoke to Mr J as he was about to purchase the bitcoins.
When he told them some details and showed them his chat logs with the woman, they told him that he was the victim of a love scam.
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