If you see this paper ‘wallet’ on the street hand it in, police warn

By admin On Nov 23, 2022

Police have issued a warning over a new scam involving cryptocurrency ‘wallets’ which they say are being scattered on streets and in parks around New South Wales.

NSW Police say they’ve have reports of people being scammed out of cash by falling for a trick left in small paper ‘cryptocurrency wallets’ they’ve found.

Designed to look like real paperwork relating to digital currency such as Bitcoin, they include an image of a QR code.

Police have issued a warning over a new scam involving cryptocurrency 'wallets' which they say are being scattered around New South Wales. — Police have issued a warning over a new scam involving cryptocurrency ‘wallets’ which they say are being scattered around New South Wales. (NSW Police)

But if the finder picks it up, thinking it might be worth something, and scans the code with their phone, they could see their bank account emptied, police say.

The person is then asked to click on the link to access a crypto wallet, which claims to have up to $16,000 in it.

However, the finder must pay a ‘withdrawal fee’ to get the money transferred into their own crypto account, if they have one.

But they then face having all their currency stolen.

“Once the withdrawal fee is paid and person’s crypto wallet details provided, the person’s cryptocurrency is stolen from their crypto wallets,” NSW Police, said.

“If you find a crypto paper wallet similar to this, be aware that it may be a scam!”

“These crypto paper wallets are made to look like real Bitcoin paper wallets.”

Police said if anybody finds one of the ‘wallets’ they should hand them to the local police station.

Report cyber scams here.