New scam targets Beaufort County Facebook users

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents of new bitcoin scams coming out online in which victims are being outright threatened rather than smoothly tricked.

The scams have been reportedly coming through email or direct messages on Facebook, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release Wednesday. The scammers threaten physical violence to both the victim and his or her family unless they pay the scammer over the internet in bitcoins.

“You can either report this activity to your local law enforcement agency or simply ignore the contact from scammers,” according to the release.

There are several other scam tactics that Beaufort County residents and employees have fallen victim to. A family thought they found a place to rent in Beaufort, but their good fortune was dashed when the rightful owner came home and unraveled the scam.

There have been threats to expose secrets to the victim’s spouse, phone calls made from scammers masquerading as Bluffton firefighters, law enforcement officers or Beaufort Memorial Hospital representatives. Others have been contacted by people who claimed to be their relatives and still others formed online relationships with people they viewed as friends or romantic partners who turned out to be crooks.

South Carolina residents were on track to lose over $1.5 million to scammers in 2017 alone.

For more information on current or emerging scams and financial safety, visit www.fbi.gov.

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 6:00 PM with the headline "New scam targets Beaufort County Facebook users."