Apopka crypto scams are climbing. One victim lost more than $50K

Apopka <a href="https://xpertsstudio.com/defillamas-new-crypto-ratings-put-128-tokens-under-the-lens/” title=”Defillama’s New Crypto Ratings Put 128 Tokens Under the Lens”>crypto scams are climbing. One victim lost more than $50K — here’s how the scheme works

APOPKA, Fla. – A phone call or message creates the crisis. The person on the other end says your bank account has a problem, your computer has been hacked or you could be in serious trouble.

Then comes the pressure: act now.

And eventually, the demand: get cash and send it using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.

Apopka police say that scenario is no longer hypothetical in their city. The department told News 6 it received five reports involving Bitcoin or cryptocurrency during the first 26 days of August — more than it had typically been seeing — and reports have been steadily increasing for roughly three months. Before that, police said cases were more sporadic.

The amounts reported lost vary dramatically.

One recent report involved just $35.

Another involved $10,000.

Another involved $50,000.

The largest recent loss Apopka police identified to News 6 was $50,773.

And the numbers outside Apopka show why police are increasingly concerned.

According to 2025 data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, Florida recorded 1,213 complaints involving cryptocurrency kiosks — the highest complaint count in the country — with more than $32.7 million in adjusted reported losses. Nationwide, the FBI received more than 13,400 complaints involving cryptocurrency kiosks and reported losses exceeding $388 million.

How does the scam actually work?

The specific story can change, but Apopka police say the objective is often the same: create enough fear or urgency that the victim sends money before stopping to question what is happening.

APD told News 6 its recent local cases have primarily involved scammers pretending to represent banks or convincing people that their computers have been compromised.

Police said they have not seen recent cases in which scammers specifically pretended to be Apopka police officers, although impersonation of law enforcement has been reported elsewhere.

One recent Apopka case shows how extreme the story presented to a victim can become.

Police said a victim was told their computer had been connected to an investigation involving child sexual abuse material. The scammer allegedly told the victim that to resolve the problem, $10,000 needed to be sent purportedly to Microsoft.

The victim was instructed to withdraw the money in cash and deposit it into a Bitcoin ATM.

That step — moving cash into cryptocurrency — can make the victim’s chances of recovering the money much worse.

Why do scammers want cryptocurrency?

The Better Business Bureau told News 6 that cryptocurrency has become an attractive vehicle for scammers because money can move quickly, transactions can offer greater anonymity and consumers may have fewer fraud protections than they would through traditional banking or credit-card transactions.

Apopka police described another problem: once the transaction is completed, tracing where the cryptocurrency ultimately went and identifying the person controlling the receiving wallet can be extremely difficult. Some of the people or operations investigators encounter may also be outside the United States, adding another layer of difficulty to an investigation.

There can also be very little time to recognize the mistake.

APD told News 6 that its fraud investigator estimates a Bitcoin transaction can take approximately 10 minutes to finalize after money is deposited. Police stressed that does not mean every victim has a guaranteed 10-minute window to recover money. Rather, once a transaction is finalized, recovery can become extremely difficult.

That is one reason the department says prevention matters so much: by the time a victim realizes the story was fake, the financial transaction may already be very real.

BBB: Investment and cryptocurrency scams are among the riskiest

The Better Business Bureau told News 6 its data shows how financially damaging these schemes can become.

BBB said its latest Scam Tracker Risk Report ranked investment and cryptocurrency scams as the No. 1 riskiest consumer scam category.

According to the information BBB provided to News 6:

• More than **77% of people targeted by investment or cryptocurrency scams who reported to BBB said they lost money.
• The median reported loss was $5,000.
• Among the top 10% of reported losses, the median was $82,000.

BBB also reported $1.2 million in Florida cryptocurrency scam losses over the past 12 months through Scam Tracker. Separately, it recorded $5.4 million in reported Florida investment-scam losses during that period, noting that many modern investment schemes involve cryptocurrency.

Those figures come from reports submitted to BBB Scam Tracker and do not represent every scam or financial loss in Florida.

It may not start as a “Bitcoin scam”

Another important warning from BBB: cryptocurrency may not enter the conversation until well after a scam begins.

BBB says scammers are incorporating crypto payments into several familiar types of fraud.

A victim may be encouraged to make a relatively small cryptocurrency investment through what appears to be a legitimate trading platform.

The account may appear to grow. BBB says scammers may even allow a victim to withdraw some money early in the process, reinforcing the belief that the investment is real.

Then the demands grow.

The victim may be told to invest more money to increase a return or pay additional money before supposedly being allowed to withdraw existing funds. Eventually, access to the money disappears.

BBB says some romance scams involve a long period of relationship-building before money is ever mentioned.

The scammer may eventually introduce what sounds like an attractive cryptocurrency investment opportunity. This type of long-term financial grooming is sometimes referred to as “pig butchering.”

A supposed employer may offer someone online tasks with the promise of salary or commissions.

BBB says victims can then be directed to deposit their own money into a cryptocurrency platform to unlock assignments or increase commissions. Early withdrawals may appear to work before the victim is eventually unable to access the money.

Apopka residents react: “Cut it off”

News 6 spoke with Dylan Skinner while asking residents how they would react if someone on the phone suddenly demanded cryptocurrency or told them not to discuss a transaction.

Skinner said secrecy would immediately raise his suspicion.

“If they say anything like that, ‘You can’t talk about this,’ that’s straight ridiculousness,” Skinner said. “You need to, bam, cut it off.”

When asked who he worried could be particularly susceptible to a convincing scam, Skinner immediately thought about someone in his own family.

“My grandmother,” he said. “That’s prime, prime victim right there — our grandmothers.”

Federal data backs up concerns about older victims. The FBI said more than half of cryptocurrency-kiosk complaints nationwide in 2025 involved people over age 50, with that group reporting more than $302 million in losses.

What should you do if someone demands cryptocurrency?

Apopka police say urgency itself should be treated as a warning sign.

Scammers may tell victims they have only hours to pay, that something terrible will happen if they do not act immediately or that they should not discuss the situation with anyone else. Police say that pressure is designed to move the money before the victim has time to think, call someone they trust or independently verify the story.

• Hang up. Do not let the caller keep applying pressure.
• Do not send Bitcoin or cryptocurrency because someone unexpectedly demands it.
• If someone claims to represent your bank, police, a government agency or business, find that organization’s legitimate phone number yourself and call it directly.
• Do not use a phone number, link or contact information supplied by the person who contacted you.
• Be especially suspicious if someone tells you to act immediately or keep the transaction secret.
• Do not believe promises of guaranteed investment returns.
• Be cautious of social-media contacts offering cryptocurrency investments, even if the account appears to belong to someone you know. BBB warns that legitimate accounts can be compromised.
• Be skeptical of companies promising to recover cryptocurrency already stolen from you in exchange for another fee; BBB warns that victims can be targeted a second time by so-called recovery scams.

Apopka police say their message is simple: the best opportunity to stop one of these losses is before the money ever moves.

If someone claiming to represent an institution suddenly tells you that the solution to an urgent problem is cryptocurrency, stop the conversation and independently verify the claim before sending anything.

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.

Source: www.clickorlando.com