APOPKA, Fla. – A phone call or message creates the crisis. The person on the other end says your bank account has a problem, your computer has been hacked or you could be in serious trouble.

Then comes the pressure: act now.

And eventually, the demand: get cash and send it using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.

Apopka police say that scenario is no longer hypothetical in their city. The department told News 6 it received five reports involving Bitcoin or cryptocurrency during the first 26 days of August — more than it had typically been seeing — and reports have been steadily increasing for roughly three months. Before that, police said cases were more sporadic.

The amounts reported lost vary dramatically.

One recent report involved…