Police in North Kingston are warning residents about a whole new array of crypto-based scams that have made themselves prominent in the area.
Crypto Scams: Will They Ever Stop?
Crypto scams are nothing new. In fact, they’ve practically been around since the industry was first developed nearly 15 years ago, but never have they taken on such drastic and varied forms. For example, among the most prominent forms of digital currency scams as of late are romance scams, which seek to target those looking for love online.
Many crypto scammers will set up fake or phony online “love” profiles. They narrow in on their victims and establish long-term relationships. They get to know them, they make things feel very personal and clear, and before long (once they’ve gotten their victims’ trust and attention), they tell the other parties about “fantastic” new crypto investment opportunities, and that they’d be fools to avoid getting in on the action.
From there, the victims feel compelled to put money into the platforms, and they do. In the beginning, they ultimately see gains and start to feel excited. In many cases, they invest more money once they see the numbers going up, but when they try to make withdrawals or take money out, problems arise. They’re often told they must invest more and before long they realize what’s happened.
The platforms were controlled by illicit actors and the likelihood of them getting their funds back is slim to none. Steve Weisman – author of “Identity Theft Alert” – said in a statement:
Seniors are often targeted at this and unfortunately, they end up losing a lot of money. The cryptocurrency companies that have these ATMs, they don’t want to be working with criminals and they do post the warnings there on the ATM which is good if someone you know is at least going to be giving that moment of hesitation.
How to Talk to Bank Tellers
As he said, the fraud in question occurs through bitcoin ATMs at convenience and grocery stores. However, sometimes the victims are required to withdraw money from their banks, and the scammers have given them a list of things to say should the bank tellers ask questions or appear suspicious in some way. Weisman said:
They will tell the people not to respond to certain things. That ‘No, I am aware that this is legitimate, this is a business transaction.’ Anything they can to try and get around the warnings and the people being concerned about those warnings, and that’s a problem because once they’ve hooked that person in, very often, it becomes very difficult to dissuade them.
At the end of the day, while the crypto space appears to be growing like never before, the crime centered within its bounds is also expanding.
