West has become one of the most visible figures in the law enforcement campaign against crypto-related crimes. “There was a lot of money in crypto, and there were some really bad actors trying to go after it.'
When Erin West first learned about crypto, the Santa Clara County deputy district attorney immediately had a gut feeling that the technology meant bad news for law enforcement.
West has become one of the most visible figures in the law enforcement campaign against crypto-related crimes. “There was a lot of money in crypto, and there were some really bad actors trying to go after it,” West said. That was the first time that we had dealt with any type of cryptocurrency case at all. We weren't at all familiar with a situation where a scammer could take over your phone service.
How ChatGPT conquered the tech world in 100 daysCan you walk me through the crypto element in the scam? Then I would go to . I would say I forgot my password a six-digit code to the device I'm holding. Now I'm in your Gmail account. I'm going to change your password, and now you're locked out of your Gmail account. Now I'm figuring out you have an email from Coinbase or you have an email from Gemini. That must be where you hold your crypto. Then I go to Coinbase or Gemini. I do the same process. I take over that account. And then I ship the money to a wallet.
But what we were finding is that these scammers lived all over the country, many outside the country. A real barrier for us was a number of them were juveniles. The laws don't really enable us to prosecute juveniles like we do adults despite the fact that they were causing massive damage.What stood out and what continues to stand out is being on the edge of something new and scary, and we were doing things that had never been done before.
The way this scam works is that the scammer spends a substantial amount of time cultivating that trusted relationship and really building this connection that enables the amount of trust needed when a victim is asked to essentially put everything they have into this. So what happens is, you know, the scam starts off small, small and they ask for just a few thousand dollars. But the more they get to know the victim, the more they know how many assets they have.
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