CINCINNATI, Ohio (WCMH) – A southwest Ohio woman who fell victim to a cryptocurrency scam has been refunded most of the nearly $42,000 in stolen Bitcoin.

According to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, a special unit within the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation recently returned more than $35,000 to a woman from Delhi Township, west of Cincinnati, who fell victim to an online scam.

In August 2024, a 73-year-old Hamilton County woman received a pop-up message on her laptop saying the device had been hacked. The woman called a phone number she believed to be a Microsoft hotline and spoke to the scammer, who instructed her to withdraw money and convert it to Bitcoin to fix her computer. The scammer convinced the woman to send $41,750 in multiple transactions via a Bitcoin ATM.

After realizing this was a scam, the woman notified the Delhi Township Police Department, which requested the assistance of BCI’s Electronic Financial Investigations unit. BCI successfully traced the funds and placed a freeze on additional transfers to the scammer.  

Through search warrants and a court order, BCI ultimately recovered most of the stolen money, returning $35,600 to the victim this week. The Attorney General’s Office did not report any charges filed or name any suspects connected to the scam.