Residents are reminded to be cautious when dealing with individuals online after a Guelph man lost $188,000 US in a cryptocurrency scam, Guelph police report.
The victim reported he met a male in the summer through an online chat forum and believed the two knew each other from childhood overseas. Between September and the end of November the victim transferred $188,000 US through a series of transactions for the purposes of buying cryptocurrency.
When he was asked this week to pay an additional 30 per cent “verification fee” he called police.
Residents are urged to be extremely cautious when communicating online with anyone they do not know personally. Transfers to recipients in other countries are extremely difficult to trace and the chance of recouping lost funds is low.
