Families and friends of seniors must remain vigilant against crypto fraud. They should monitor any messages, calls, or pop-up alerts they receive on their seniors’ behalf. Check out the Best info about Crypto Asset Recovery of stolen funds.
They should never click links or respond to online messages from unknown senders since AARP regularly hears of victims of crypto scams.
CY’s story
CY’s experience serves as a reminder that scammers can target anyone, not just young and tech-savvy individuals. Elderly individuals and those on fixed incomes are particularly at risk; many can never receive their money back after falling for these schemes. Therefore, investors must remain wary when investing their money in any crypto trading websites, especially any that require upfront fees for investments.
Though CY invested a substantial portion of his savings, he was convinced his investments were legal and legitimate due to promises made on an online website offering high returns on investments and encouraging him to increase investments further. As a result, over $250,000 of his life savings were lost to cryptocurrency fraudsters, and his family has blamed themselves and is struggling with the emotional trauma caused by this scam.
His investment was part of his retirement plans, yet he never expected to lose so much money. Now, his family lives on a fixed income while they try to repay any debt incurred – they do not know whether they will ever regain what was lost to crypto scammers.
One form of crypto fraud involves stealing user wallets or private keys from cryptocurrency exchanges, while others involve malware accessing user cryptocurrency accounts so scammers can steal funds directly. Such scams have resulted in millions being stolen from victims.
Romance-related scams represent another form of crypto fraud. These schemes typically take place over social media or dating apps and frequently involve cryptocurrency. According to the FBI’s San Francisco bureau, over 740 complaints were filed in 2018 related to this form of crime alone in Northern District California alone! $64 Million had been lost as a result.
One form of crypto scamming involves artificially inflating the price of low-volume or low-value cryptocurrency via false information or rumors, inducing investors to sell off their holdings, leading to a price crash and leaving them with significant losses. This type of scheme is prevalent for NFTs (or non-fungible tokens), which are unique digital assets.
Jessica’s story
Jessica’s story is among many that involve people losing their life savings to crypto fraud. Scammers took advantage of cryptocurrency transfers being irreversible; therefore, it’s wise to be wary when sending funds online and consider using an identity theft protection service that notifies suspicious activity and can assist with recovery from it.
California resident Victoria Ruth was duped into falling prey to a crypto investment scam when she befriended someone named Victoria Ruth on Facebook. Victims are typically lured in with promises of high returns on investments and pressured into investing more and moving their funds between trading exchanges – once fraudsters gain control of victims’ funds, they can charge fees to withdraw them.
This was precisely what happened to Corey Lantsman, who lost over $340K to a crypto scam known as SpireBit. After hearing of it online and speaking to their representative via the Telegram messaging app, Lantsman eventually invested more than $200,000 before realizing his mistake and later becoming aware that they had been duped.
As soon as he began losing money, he suspected something was amiss and sought help from law enforcement. FOX 12 reports that now both emotionally and physically exhausted, he fears his financial future won’t see its return and worries he won’t ever see his money again.
As a result, he had no other option but to leave his country and move elsewhere. While still trying to figure out a way for him to regain some of his money, he remains determined to do whatever possible to right this wrong and make things right again.
Over half a million people are estimated to have lost over $2 billion to cryptocurrency scams during this past year alone, estimated at an estimate by experts. Scammers rely heavily on marketing techniques, including expensive online ads, paid influencers, and offline promotions, in order to lure victims in and become profitable scams.
CY’s recovery
CY’s experience illustrates how cryptocurrency provides criminals with new avenues to defraud victims and steal their money. Given that cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible and often anonymous, making them hard to trace, crypto doesn’t enjoy as many regulations as traditional financial assets, making it an attractive target for fraudsters looking to take advantage of the hype surrounding this emerging technology.
Cybercriminals often create fake websites to appear as legitimate exchanges, online wallets, and ICO sites in social media feeds, chats, and search results in order to lure victims in. Furthermore, criminals use counterfeit apps that impersonate the real ones so as to gain access to victims’ private keys and passwords and then sell stolen cryptocurrency on illegal exchanges.
Fraudsters use cryptocurrency’s blockchain technology to commit crimes like money laundering, tax evasion, and bribery. Furthermore, fraudsters use crypto to conceal assets and manipulate markets in ways that defraud investors – either by artificially inflating prices of coins purchased at lower volumes and selling them later at increased values – or engaging in insider trading schemes similar to traditional markets and performing insider trading strategies and market manipulation techniques similar to what would typically occur there.
Scammers can take advantage of the crypto community’s trust by masquerading as authorities, pretending they know about new cryptocurrencies, or promising significant returns on investments. Furthermore, scammers may infect computers with malware that gives them access to wallets and private keys – potentially giving them access to steal cryptocurrency or demand ransom payments to unlock funds from wallets or private keys.
The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center has received reports of over $2.5 billion in cryptocurrency losses by investors who were duped into scams or fraud schemes. If this has happened to you, contact your local FBI field office immediately so the MIMF Unit can file a complaint and proceed with prosecuting these cases along with SEC and CFTC enforcement efforts.
Jessica’s recovery
Jessica, 42 years old and originally from Ecuador, makes a living as a nanny in Chicago. Born there and now calling it home, Jessica actively participates in Heartland Alliance’s Refugee & Immigrant Community Services program to assist families in navigating change and building futures here in America. In addition, she belongs to the Chicago chapter of the ACLU for civil liberties issues.
She is sitting at her apartment when she hears on television that Chicago has experienced a 32% spike in crime. A woman interviewed on TV is crying as she recounts how her husband was mugged and shot, leaving them both running from their attacker. Additionally, South Chicago neighborhoods will be severely impacted by blue flu, with no police patrolling that area.
The next day, Jessica attends a meeting of local alderpersons to address her city’s crisis. She is stunned when Deborah Coates – her alderwoman from her ward – fails to protect Franklin High School from closure; Jessica asserts that Franklin does not benefit her community and thus should be saved; Coates disputes this, explaining she knows its closure will have severe repercussions for low-income residents who grew up nearby.
Later on, Jessica meets with Keri to ask for her support on Nivens’ contract negotiations with Pearson Hardman. Keri seems wary, but Jessica assures her that they will not allow bullying tactics or manipulation in their talks.
Jessica lost most of her $1.2 million fortune during the 2008 crash; most was gone before she even could gain access to it. Now, however, she only has enough to fund her nannying business with.
Sydney, Australia, residents were targeted by an elaborate cryptocurrency scammer in Sydney who defrauded them through an elaborate cryptocurrency fraud. The scammer lured victims into investing by posting false information on social media, then fraudulently inflating its price before selling at a loss later. He used their stolen debit card details to purchase items in India and Kuwait within just two hours, spending $100K from their offset account.
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