The Washoe County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) has released details on what appears to be a new texting scam targeting people who own cryptocurrency.
In the reported scam, texts are sent by a person claiming to be from Coinbase, a popular cryptocurrency exchange.
The texts provide an alleged one-time password (OTP) for a withdrawal, then urges the text recipient to call a phone number if the transaction was not authorized.
WCSO warns the public to look out for messages from unknown numbers not associated with Coinbase, unsolicited OTP codes, requests to call a phone number for verification purposes or any message with suspicious formatting.
To protect yourself, the Sheriff's Office provides the following tips:
- Do not respond or call provided numbers
- Never share OTP codes
- Verify directly with the official website or app
- Report suspicious messages
- Enable two-factor authentication
WCSO reminds the public that if you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from Coinbase, you can report it using the Sheriff's Office Fraud Awareness website.
