Thanks to some savvy and caring Cub Foods employees, a few Chaska residents were recently rescued from losing thousands of dollars through a high-tech spoofing and cryptocurrency scam. 

Unfortunately, other Chaska residents weren’t as lucky. Local law enforcement is alerting the community of the scam involving what appears to be the administrative phone number of the Carver County Sheriff’s Department, as well as the Coin Star machine at Cub Foods.

Chaska’s Crime Prevention Officer Martin Godinez placed warning signs on the coin-counting machine in the Chaska Cub Foods on Nov. 15, which scammers have been using to set up cryptocurrency accounts as part of the fraud. 

“They will ask for more and more”

“It’s really believable,” noted Cub Foods Manager Steve Milton about the scam. “They [the scammers] are pretty darn good.” 

Here’s how it works: A resident receives a call that is identified
as the Carver County Sheriff’s Department (952-361-1212) and is then falsely told that they owe the county money because of missed jury duty, or because they have a citation that will soon result in a warrant for their arrest. The scammer then instructs the resident to pay the fine through a cryptocurrency account. To do this, the scammer tells the person to insert money into the coin-counting machine at Cub Foods as they set up the account and steal the inserted cash. 

Milton said one scam victim lost $4,000 before Cub Food employees noticed something was wrong and stopped the transaction. One woman was in tears as she was feeding the money into the machine, he said. 

“The first one happened a couple weeks ago,” Milton said. An older woman was speaking into her cell phone and feeding the coin counting machine with $100 bills.

Cub Foods employee Pam Zavadil told Milton that something didn’t look right. As Zavadil approached the customer, she heard the scammer on the phone. The Cub employees called the Carver County number to verify that the call was legitimate and saved the resident from further loss. 

“No real business or government agency will ask you to pay over the phone, especially using cryptocurrency,” Officer Godinez explained. “But if they scare you enough and they sound legit, people will pay.”

He noted that the scams aim for thousands of dollars sent in one transaction. “They will ask for more and more,” he said.

Scott County placed scam warning signs on cryptocurrency transfer sites in the county, and Carver County is considering doing the same thing, Godinez said. In Chaska, there are only two cryptocurrency sites — at Cub Foods and Walgreens. 

This type of scam is called “spoofing,” when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. While the call appears to be local and coming from a company or government agency you trust, it could be initiated from some international site and is aimed at stealing your money or personal information.

If you are asked to send money urgently, be skeptical, Godinez said. Hang up the phone and seek advice. Cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible, and local law enforcement agencies do not have jurisdiction or manpower to track down scammers who could be overseas. 

Law enforcement advises that you:

• Do not send a picture of your Bitcoin receipt.
• Do not share the “private key.” If someone is requesting that, it’s probably a scam.

You can report these types of scams to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov or the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov.

Local Rental Property Scams

Local residents have also recently lost money due to rental property exams, Godinez said.

 Two such crimes were reported in Chaska last month.

It happens this way: a resident will find an inexpensive rental property on a social media platform, and when they show interest, the scammer will say that they need to act fast if they want to rent the place.

“The scammer asks for move-in fees or security deposits,” Godinez explains. “These are very nice houses at a cheap price.”

After the local resident pays the fee, they visit the property and learn that someone is already living there. By then, the person’s money is long gone.

Red flags for this type of scam include:

• Rental agents don’t want to meet you in person.
• Scammers want you to move in immediately without seeing it the property.
• The price is too good to be true.
• There is no tenant screening process.

Brushing Scams

Beware of potential brushing scams. While this type of scam hasn’t been reported in Chaska yet, Godinez said it’s good to know about it as the holidays approach. This scam comes to your door as a package. When you open it, you find a QR code. You are instructed to scan the code to determine who sent the package. If you scan the code, you end up providing access to your phone.

If you believe you’re the victim of a scam, call the Carver County Dispatch non-emergency line at (952)-361-1231.