KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Kingsport Police Department (KPD) is alerting area businesses to a Bitcoin deposit scam after a local store lost thousands of dollars.
A KPD statement says that on Saturday May 14, an employee of a Kingsport convenience store was called by someone claiming to be from the store’s head office.
“The caller instructed the employee to take all the money from the ledger and safe and transport it to another specified location and deposit it in a bitcoin deposit,” the statement read.
According to the KPD, the caller also sent the worker a QR code for the Bitcoin deposit and arranged for a ride-sharing service to pick them up and take them to the deposit location.
In total, the store was defrauded of $4,500, police report.
As of Monday, the scam incident is still under investigation. However, no suspects have yet been identified.
The KPD is warning all local businesses to verify the identity of all their callers before moving funds and to exercise caution.
