The Newburyport, Massachusetts, Police Department saved an elderly Mainer from an $11,000 bitcoin scam on Tuesday after a caller impersonated a government official.

[RELATED: Cumberland Sheriff Searching for Scammer Who Stole $19,500 from an Elderly Couple…]

A Newburyport officer was in a gas station on Storey Avenue when he was approached by a 75-year-old woman who reported that she feared she was being scammed.

The woman told the officer, Patrolman Nathaniel Kelley, that she received a call from someone claiming to be a government agent.

The caller knew personal information about her and told her that she needed to deposit funds into a Bitcoin ATM machine to avoid legal consequences.

The officer asked to speak over the phone to the caller with the woman. The caller then immediately hung up when he realized that the police officer was on the phone.

Kelley learned that the woman had driven from Maine to find a Bitcoin ATM, and that she had withdrawn $11,000 in cash in response to the caller.

Kelley explained that the call was a scam and told the woman to monitor her accounts for suspicious activity.

Police reported that the scam is a common type, and that once cash is deposited into a Bitcoin ATM, it usually becomes irretrievable unless law enforcement seizes the entire machine with a search warrant.

It is rare that the perpetrator of one of these types of scams is actually arrested.

The Newburyport City Council is currently considering a complete ban on Bitcoin ATMs in their city in order to prevent similar scams.