An employee at the Phillips 66 gas station, 5 Municipal Drive, in Arnold fell victim to a scam and sent money to a fake bitcoin account after someone claiming to work in the business’s corporate office called the employee and instructed him to. The employee sent $815 in cash to the control number the caller provided, Arnold Police reported.
The employee got the call at about 4 a.m. June 15, and the caller initially told the employee to check the inspection tags on the gas station’s fire extinguishers. After that, the employee was instructed to get money out of a folder on a desk in the station’s office, but there was no money in the folder, the report said.
Then, the employee was told to get money from behind the counter and deposit it through a Coin Cloud bitcoin ATM to an account. The caller was able to accurately describe the store’s layout to the employee, and police suspect the caller may have gained access to the station’s video surveillance system, according to the report.
At about 6 a.m. that day, the scam was reported to police after gas station representatives learned the account did not belong to Phillips 66, the report said.
Detective Lt. Jason Valentine said investigators are attempting to trace the number used to call the store. He said no similar incidents had been reported to Arnold Police.