BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Nearby law enforcement is warning the community over a new scam making the rounds.

The Anacortes Police Department says local residents have lost tens of thousands of dollars to cryptocurrency scams in recent weeks.

It notes that, while fraud schemes involving credit cards can sometimes be fully refundable to victims, cryptocurrency is often very hard to track.

In some of the recent incidents, the department says the scammer told victims that they have an outstanding warrant that has to be paid off using crypto payments.

Anacortes Police say they will never ask for payment using cryptocurrency and advise people to always verify the legitimacy of those types of requests.