Officer Saves Woman from Crypto Scam, Recovering Nearly $10,000

A 90-year-old North Carolina woman almost lost nearly $10,000 to a cryptocurrency scam before a police officer intervened. Mary Ann Nunley received a text message on July 27 claiming her account with the Geek Squad had ended and that $390 would be taken out of her account.

Nunley called the number provided in the message, which led to hours of back-and-forth with a scammer who promised to return her money but was trying to steal more. The scammer told Nunley she needed to take nearly $10,000 to a nearby Bitcoin kiosk to fix the situation.

Wilmington Police Officer Nicholas Morrison was on a routine check at the gas station where the Bitcoin machine was located when he saw Nunley holding the money and talking on her cell phone. Recognizing warning signs of a crypto scam, he walked over to her and helped Nunley end the call with the scammer.

Morrison then took Nunley to Best Buy to confirm that the Geek Squad was not involved in taking her money and drove her to the bank to redeposit her cash.