A pop-up warning on her computer screen was all it took to set off a chain of events that cost a 78-year-old Warren woman nearly $20,000. Michelle Fox says a caller claiming to be a Warren police officer convinced her that sending Bitcoin was the only way to avoid arrest, and by the time she realized what had happened, her savings were gone.
Fox's ordeal began after she clicked on a sponsored ad on Facebook, according to WXYZ Channel 7. Her computer then displayed pop-up warnings, and she called the phone number shown on the screen, setting the scam in motion. The person on the line claimed to have scanned her computer and told her she was connected to a criminal investigation.
The caller then posed as a Warren police officer, per the same report, and used fake legal documents that appeared legitimate to Fox to back up the threat. She was told that sending nearly $20,000 in Bitcoin was the only way to avoid arrest, and the scammer threatened her with asset seizure if she refused to comply.
Isolated by Design, Then Transferred to a Fake FTC Agent
Throughout the call, Fox was instructed not to speak to anyone about the situation — a tactic the WXYZ report notes scammers typically use to isolate victims from anyone who might intervene. She withdrew cash and deposited it into a Bitcoin kiosk at a mobile gas station on Van Dyke, following the caller's instructions.
The scammer then transferred her to someone claiming to represent the Federal Trade Commission, who demanded another $15,000 from her. In all, Fox lost nearly $20,000 to the scheme before she stopped and reached out to authorities, filing a police report and contacting Warren police.
Warren Police Lt. John Gajewski told the station that real law enforcement will never ask for money or Bitcoin over the phone — a message echoed by other agencies across the region. Fox says she now feels embarrassed about what happened, but she wanted to raise awareness of the elaborate scam and hopes that sharing her story will prevent others from becoming victims.
A Tactic Fueling a National Surge
What happened to Fox fits a pattern authorities say is exploding nationwide. Fraud losses tied to Bitcoin ATMs jumped nearly tenfold from 2020 to $110 million in 2023, and topped $65 million in just the first six months of 2024, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Consumers 60 and older were more than three times as likely as younger adults to report losses at crypto kiosks, with a median loss of $10,000 across all age groups. By 2025, that toll had ballooned even further, with crypto ATM fraud losses reaching $388 million — a 58% jump over the prior year, as reported by Forbes.
In Michigan specifically, cryptocurrency scams cost residents more than $126 million in 2024, more than double the state's total losses the year before, according to FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center data reported by WDIV ClickOnDetroit. That same outlet detailed a December 2025 case in which the Monroe County Sheriff's Office warned residents after scammers impersonated local officers and threatened arrest over missed jury duty unless victims paid fines in Bitcoin.
State Warnings Came Weeks Before Fox Was Targeted
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel reissued a statewide consumer alert in July warning residents about government and police imposter scams that rely on phone spoofing and demands for immediate payment via Bitcoin or prepaid gift cards, according to the State of Michigan. The alert emphasized that authentic law enforcement and government agencies will never demand immediate phone payment or request cryptocurrency — the exact playbook used against Fox just weeks later.
That guidance builds on an earlier joint advisory from the Michigan Department of Attorney General and Michigan State Police Cyber Section, which warned residents never to keep a phone call active while withdrawing cash at a bank or depositing money into a Bitcoin ATM at a stranger's instruction. Scammers use continuous phone contact specifically to prevent victims from speaking with bank tellers or bystanders who might recognize the scam.
Under Michigan law, falsely pretending to be a police officer is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison, but the offense escalates to a felony carrying up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine when it's used to carry out or attempt another crime, such as fraud. Federal authorities also gained new tools when the FTC's Impersonation Rule took effect in April 2024, making it illegal in interstate commerce to pose as a government entity or officer and giving the agency broader power to seek civil penalties and victim restitution.
Enforcement remains difficult, however, because many of the operators behind these schemes work internationally and route funds through anonymous crypto wallets, according to the WXYZ report. Older adults continue to bear the brunt of the losses: the FBI's 2023 Elder Fraud Report found that Americans 60 and older reported $3.4 billion in total fraud losses that year, an 11% increase from 2022, and more recent FBI data cited by CTIN shows government impersonation complaints alone totaled $413.2 million in losses in 2025.
Similar schemes have surfaced across the country in recent months, including a Georgia woman coerced into sending $79,000 in Bitcoin after imposters posing as sheriff's deputies threatened her with arrest, and a Denver woman who lost $9,000 after callers kept her on the line and directed her to a Bitcoin kiosk. Fox's case adds Warren to a growing list of communities grappling with the same coercive tactics — and her decision to speak publicly is aimed at making sure her neighbors recognize the warning signs before they, too, pick up the phone.
