U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich announces fraud alert for COVID-19 cryptocurrency scam

NOTE: This press release has been updated to reflect the removal of the names of uncharged entities.

BILLINGS — U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich for the District of Montana and the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office are alerting the public about a nationwide scam to trick individuals into paying cryptocurrency to lift fake, non-existent arrest warrants.

Targets of the scam receive phone calls or forged court documents stating that they are being investigated for Payroll Protection Program (PPP) fraud and are the subject of an arrest warrant. The documents often claim to have been sent on behalf of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch. Additional documents sent by scammers advise the recipient that to lift the arrest warrant, the recipient must make a payment through a cryptocurrency kiosk. The documents contain detailed instructions on how to use a cryptocurrency kiosk to send payment.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, along with the FBI, are warning the public that these solicitations are unapproved and illegitimate. If you receive solicitations to lift an arrest warrant in exchange for cryptocurrency payments, you should not respond or follow those instructions.

“We are aware of scammers attempting to target Montanans to trick us into paying cryptocurrency for bogus arrest warrants.  No Montanan should ever be contacted by law enforcement asking for money to lift an arrest warrant.  If you are contacted to do this, it’s fraudulent.  These fraudsters can be convincing, and the documents may appear to be authentic, but they are not. I urge anyone who may be the targets of this scheme to report it to local law enforcement and the FBI,” U.S. Attorney Laslovich said.

“Scammers prey on people’s fears or use intimidation tactics so victims will hastily provide personal information or payment,” said Special Agent in Charge Shohini Sinha of the Salt Lake City FBI. “Keep in mind, federal agencies and law enforcement will never contact individuals to ask for money.”

Please report these scams to law enforcement by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721, or by submission to the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.  You also may report the scam to the FBI at: https://www.ic3.gov/.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

XXX