The Meade County Sheriff’s Office says bandits are using cryptocurrency to scam residents:
According to the sheriff’s office, scammers are contacting individuals and claiming they must post bond for a Meade County jail inmate using a Bitcoin kiosk or other nontraditional payment methods. Officials say this is a fraud and that no legitimate government agency conducts business that way.
The sheriff’s office emphasized it does not accept payments through cryptocurrency, gift cards, Bitcoin kiosks, or other unconventional methods. Law enforcement business, officials said, is conducted face to face, inside county buildings, using recognized payment options.
Bond payments in Meade County are accepted only at the Clerk of Courts Office or at the Meade County Jail. Any request to pay bond elsewhere, especially under pressure or threat of legal consequences, should be considered a scam [Tamara Chibe, “Meade County Sheriff Warns of Bitcoin Bond Scam,” KOTA-TV, 2026.01.22].
Hooray for Meade County not taking payment in fake money! Local, state, and federal government agencies have a duty to conduct business only in the official currency of the realm, good old United States of America dollars. Upholding that duty and the national currency will help tamp down scams… as will following a simple rule: if someone you don’t know asks you for cryptocurrency, it’s a scam!