Fort St. John employee falls victim to $900 cryptocurrency scam

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — An employee in Fort St. John lost almost $1,000 when they fell victim to a cryptocurrency scam. 

In an August 13th press release, the Fort St. John RCMP cautioned residents about a new scam that has appeared in the region related to cryptocurrency. 

According to RCMP, an employee of a store in Fort St. John was targeted by a fraudster claiming to be their boss on July 31st. 

The employee was convinced to deposit $900 into a bitcoin ATM to “pay for the delivery of a package for the business.” The money was then converted into bitcoin and deposited in the fraudster’s crypto wallet. 

“Once your money is converted into bitcoin, for example, and sent to a fraudster’s crypto wallet, there’s an extremely low chance of tracing the money and next to no chance of recovering it,” Constable Christiaan Dreyer, a media relations officer with the Fort St. John RCMP said.

The RCMP say there have been “several similar incidents” in previous months, and are recommending residents familiarize themselves with it and exercise caution. 

“Legitimate businesses are not going to ask you to pay for items or services with cryptocurrencies,” Dreyer stated. 

This comes after Jeff Horncastle from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre told Energeticcity.ca earlier this year that there were more than $638 million in losses due to scams reported in 2024.

A full, up-to-date list of recent scams and fraud incidents can be found at the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s website, where there is also information about what people should do to protect and report instances of fraud.