A crypto scam just victimized a woman in Utah after dealing with a man she met on a dating app.
A visual representation of the digital Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin on October 23, 2017 in London, England. Cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Lightcoin have seen unprecedented growth in 2017, despite remaining extremely volatile. While digital currencies across the board have divided opinion between financial institutions.
KSL TV reports that the woman, who hails from Ogden, fell victim to a so-called "romance scam" involving buying and selling cryptocurrency on a fraudulent site. The aforementioned mat she met gained her trust and offered to teach her about crypto trading, but the trades being put in front of her were all fake.
As per the report, the scam supposedly went on for weeks, with the scammer sending "proof" that the victim's money was being well-invested. The scammer said he was a "self-made man" who's made a killing as a crypto investor (particularly Bitcoin). But his way of "teaching" the victim how to invest involved him asking for more money than she likely thought at first.
The victim, who goes by the name Dianne, said she initially only put out $2,000 of her own savings. But eventually, the scammer persuaded her to give more money by opening credit cards and even taking out a loan against her home, in the guise that it would help "increase the return of her investment."
In time, the initial investment apparently had grown to $500,000-but this wasn't true. And by the time she wisened up to the fraud, she had lost almost $200,000. As of late, Dianne is facing financial ruin and needs to do extra work to pay back the money she borrowed from banks.
Even if she was embarrassed about falling for the fraud, she decided to publicize her story in the hopes that no one else would fall for it again.
Crypto As A 'Favorite' Of Scammers
Dianne was a victim of a scam that is increasingly turning to crypto - a subject not many people know about- to fool people into unwittingly parting with their hard-earned money. Crypto scams are beloved by fraudsters for two main reasons: they're harder to track and decentralized, says cybersecurity professional Alex Hamerstone.
Two technicians inspect bitcon mining at Bitfarms in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebecon March 19, 2018. - Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and worldwide payment system. It is the first decentralized digital currency, as the system works based on the blockchain technology without a central bank or single administrator. (Photo by Lars Hagberg / AFP)
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Cases Of Crypto Scams Are Increasing
What's even more appalling is that Dianne isn't the first to fall for cryptocurrency scams-and she won't be the last.
With the growing popularity of cryptocurrency as a whole, fraudsters looking to make a quick buck have crawled out of the woodwork to try their hand in the digital asset realm. And this is evident in the increase in crypto scam cases last year.
Spectrum Local News reports that as per the 2021 Risk Report from the Better Business Bureau, cryptocurrency fraud is now the second-riskiest due to how much money people lose to it on average: around $1,200. And according to data from Chainalysis, scammers made off with as much as $14 billion from their crypto-centric operations.
Hackers
For now, protecting yourself from a crypto scammer is as easy as being vigilant and aware of the situation. If somebody promises you super-high returns from a small initial investment, chances are it is too good to be true. And if they're touting crypto as something that can be done that easy, that's also too good to be true.
Investing well in cryptocurrency takes a lot of research and planning, and not one person can tell you how to do it right.
Related Article: Facebook Faces Lawsuit in Australia for FAKE Crypto Ads Using Celebrities
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
