Lt. Adam VanZeeland said crypto is at the forefront of “a new age of crime.”
APPLETON — Appleton police are seeking to open a Coinbase account to convert seized cryptocurrencies into U.S. dollars so the money can be returned to victims of fraud.
Lt. Adam VanZeeland said that in the past year, the Appleton Police Department has investigated an influx of fraud crimes involving Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Detective Mike Medina recently completed the first successful cryptocurrency seizure in Outagamie County.
“We are now at the stage where cases are being prosecuted and seized cryptocurrencies can be released back to the victims,” VanZeeland told the city’s Finance Committee. “In most cases the victims are unaware of what cryptocurrency is, do not have a crypto wallet and have no means to receive their stolen assets in the form of crypto.”
Having a Coinbase account will allow police to convert cryptocurrency into U.S. dollars for disbursement to victims. Coinbase is a publicly traded company, founded in San Francisco, that operates a digital currency platform for buying, selling, transferring and storing cryptocurrency. It has a law enforcement portal.
VanZeeland said any transaction fees would be drawn from the seized money and would be acknowledged by a signed letter from the victim.
Unless there is a seizure being returned to a victim, the Coinbase account would hold a zero balance, VanZeeland said. Victims who prefer to receive their money back in cryptocurrency, stored on a USB device, will have that option.
The Finance Committee unanimously endorsed opening a Coinbase account for police. The matter will come before the Common Council next week for final approval.
VanZeeland said cryptocurrency, primarily Bitcoin, is at the forefront of “a new age of crime.”
Scammers convince people to go to a Bitcoin ATM to buy thousands of dollars of Bitcoin. They then provide the scammer with the digital key to the Bitcoin.
“Ultimately, they’re defrauded of that money,” VanZeeland said. “These just are huge (amounts), tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Bitcoin ATMs are located through Appleton and the Fox Cities, often in gas stations and convenience stores.
Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DukeBehnke.
