What you need to know
- Campbell County is opening a Kraken account to recover and return crypto scam funds to victims.
- The account will support police investigations and is not for investing, officials said.
To fight back against cryptocurrency scams, Campbell County is opening a Kraken crypto exchange account to help return stolen funds to victims.
A Kraken exchange business account is designed for individuals or entities who intend to trade cryptocurrencies on behalf of a business rather than for personal use.
Campbell County Administrator Matt Elberfeld said at the Aug. 6 fiscal court meeting that there has been an uptick in scams involving cryptocurrency as payment. He said Campbell County Police Department Detective/Forensic Examiner Steve Kush is well-versed in computer crimes, and he has been able to track down some of the crypto and catch it before it gets too far.
“This will be opened by the finance director/treasurer, for the purpose of aiding in police investigations or court order claims only. We will not use it for investing,” said Campbell County Finance Director/Treasurer Laura Lewis. “We’re working in close partnership with the Campbell County Police Department and the Campbell County Attorney’s office.”
Elberfeld said that to return the money to the victims, it must be converted.
“So that crypto would transfer to our account, and then we would transfer it to our normal banking accounts to be able to write restitution checks,” he said. “We have a court order to do this.”
Elberfeld emphasized that the county was not opening a crypto account to start investing its reserves. He said it is purely a transactional need for the police department and the county attorney’s office to make restitution to the people who have been scammed.
Campbell County Police Chief Craig Sorrell said just this week, on Aug. 5, the department had three people call in reporting scam calls of a person posing as a Campbell County Police Officer, telling them they had warrants out and had to pay money. He said every day the department deals with different scams.
“If anybody wants you to pay anything with crypto, wants you to get gift cards, or wants you to go to a bank, take out your money, and do something else with it, it’s probably a scam, like 99% of the time,” Sorrell said.
He said a lot of the calls come from overseas, and he has seen people who have been scammed upward of $250,000.
According to the Pew Research Center, a record of $16.6 billion in losses was reported to the FBI in 2024 regarding online scams and other internet crimes. The research center also said 31% of people say they get scam phone calls at least daily, including 21% who say this happens several times a day.
“I think it’s pretty unique, at least in this area, that we’ve been able to do this and get some of these funds back,” Elberfeld said. “This account is the final step to getting the money back to the victims.”
