Results of the Study
The emerging popularity of Bitcoin and other types of cryptocurrency has created a fertile environment for scams, according to a new in-depth investigative study by Better Business Bureau
® (BBB
®). The study, found
here, examines the many facets of cryptocurrency and the variety of ways criminals are exploiting the cryptocurrency market.
Cryptocurrency is attractive to scammers because it is relatively unregulated, difficult to recoup once lost, and is not well understood by the general public. The cryptocurrency market offers new opportunities for tried-and-true investment frauds, particularly given the lack of protections that government regulation has made available to more traditional investors.
Tips to avoid cryptocurrency scams:
· Guard your wallet. If you buy cryptocurrency, the security of the wallet is of prime importance. If you lose the key, then your funds are gone permanently.
· Look carefully at email addresses and website addresses. Phishing scams often try to trick people into logging in and then capture the log in credentials. Those then can be used to steal money. Looking for an exchange with an internet search engine may lead to fake sites which advertise and impersonate real companies. Be especially careful when viewing these on a phone.
· Do not pay for products with cryptocurrency. Be careful if someone asks you to pay with Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. No one with the government will ever ask for this form of payment.
· Beware of fake recovery companies. Scam companies sometimes claim that they can recover stolen money – for a fee. These are usually scammers.
· Watch out for fake reviews. Scammers often create fake reviews for their own companies.
· Be wary of celebrity endorsements. It can be tempting to rely on a prominent figure who has invested in cryptocurrency. But those endorsements are often not authorized and even if they are, the celebrity may be paid for the effort and may not know more about it than you do.
· Be careful about claims made on social media. This is the most common place for people to encounter investment scams.
· Be wary of “friends” who reach out to you on social media and tell you how they made money with cryptocurrency. Accounts are frequently compromised. Call your friend by phone to see if it is really them.
· Do not believe promises of guaranteed returns. No one can guarantee how an investment will perform.
Where to report a scam or register a complaint:
· Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — file a complaint online at
reportfraud.ftc.gov or call 877-FTC-Help.
· Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) — file a complaint online at
ic3.gov/complaint
· U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission —
SEC.gov/tcr
Please reach out to Better Business Bureau serving Connecticut if you would like to set up an interview with a Connecticut victim. BBB can also supply you with legally reviewed text messages between victims and scammers. For an additional visual or stand-up click on this website to find a
Bitcoin ATM near you.
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