ATHENS, Ga. — An Athens man will serve an 18-month federal prison sentence after defrauding elderly people in a scheme to buy bitcoin that netted more than $500,000.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Georgia announced the sentence on Friday for 24-year-old Colin Moore.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Moore was convicted of "illegally operating an unlicensed money transmitting business targeting elderly victims."
Moore, according to federal prosecutors, was first under investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for an alleged "fraudulent sweepstakes scheme" when the bitcoin scheme was uncovered.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said other individuals in on the scheme would contact the victims and get them to send money to Moore, who in turn would purchase money orders and then use those to buy bitcoin, before selling the bitcoin to a third party.
Doing this, Moore individually received more than $65,000 from seven elderly folks across seven different states. Combined with the others involved in the scheme, they received more than $545,000 in all.
"The victims did not have knowledge of bitcoin and did not send money to Moore or another third party for any bitcoin transaction. The IRS discovered Moore used 14 different accounts with six different financial institutions to receive large sums of cash and money orders from victims that he used to purchase virtual currency," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Federal officials advise that if you know someone over the age of 60 who has been the victim of financial fraud, you can find help at the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-372-8311.
That hotline is available from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday.