New York State Police have warned residents in the Twin Tiers about callers pitching bogus investments in cryptocurrency, gold bars, and coins. Troopers said the scheme relies on building trust first, then steering targets to a website made to look like a legitimate investment platform.

The warning came in the same period as a separate federal alert about counterfeit IRS letters aimed at crypto holders. In that case, fraudsters used QR codes and a fake “Digital Asset Compliance Portal” to collect personal, wallet, and exchange account information.

How the Twin Tiers scam is described

According to State Police, scammers contact residents out of the blue and spend time establishing rapport before moving to the investment pitch. The promised opportunity involves crypto or precious metals, but investigators said the real goal is to get victims to hand over banking or account details through a fraudulent website.

Once that information is entered, the victim’s money may be drained. Troopers said people who receive unsolicited calls about buying cryptocurrency or gold should not share any information and should not visit any website suggested by the caller.

Police advised anyone targeted by such a call to hang up and dial 9-1-1. Those who believe they already provided information were told to contact local law enforcement or the New York State Police immediately, then notify their bank and close affected accounts.

Federal warning over fake IRS mailers

Days earlier, on July 30, IRS Criminal Investigation said fraudsters were mailing counterfeit letters to cryptocurrency holders. The letters claimed recipients had to enroll in a “Digital Asset Compliance Portal” by a stated deadline, even though the IRS said no such portal exists.

The mailers included a QR code linking to a site designed to resemble IRS.gov. Once there, victims were prompted to provide personal information, wallet details, or login credentials for crypto exchanges. IRS-CI Chief Jarod Koopman urged people to stop and verify the source before responding to unexpected requests for sensitive information.

The agency said the IRS does use QR codes on some legitimate notices, including CP53E letters, but advised taxpayers not to rely on codes printed in suspicious mail. Instead, they should go directly to IRS.gov or use contact information found there.

What investigators know about the IRS-themed campaign

The IRS release did not say how the operators obtained the names and addresses of cryptocurrency holders, and an IRS-CI representative declined to discuss the campaign’s scope. That leaves open how broadly the letters were distributed and how targets were selected.

Coinbase and cybersecurity firm DarkTower said they traced the operation to a domain registered through a Hong Kong registrar and hosted in Romania. The source article did not say whether any enforcement action had been taken against the infrastructure.

Broader pattern and next steps

The two alerts point to a wider pattern of scams that use crypto-related themes, official-looking branding, and fake websites to capture financial or account information. In May, Cryptopolitan reported on fake “Quantum Resistance Security Update” letters sent to Ledger customers, with QR codes leading to sites that stole 24-word recovery phrases.

Federal data cited in the report underscores the scale of the problem: the FBI said Americans lost about $21 billion to cyber-enabled crimes and online scams in 2025. For now, the confirmed guidance from authorities is straightforward: avoid unsolicited investment pitches, do not use links or QR codes supplied in unexpected messages, and verify through official channels before providing any information.

Source: Cryptopolitan