The FBI San Francisco published a public warning about the spike in romance scams involving crypto just days before Valentine’s Day, based on complaints received with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
In a romance scam, under the pretext of getting romantic, unwary investors, both men, and women are convinced and asked to send money to fake accounts. While the scammers allow investors to withdraw some earnings from the initial trade to establish credibility, the victims are compelled to spend more money. When the victims refuse to invest more money, the scammers usually stop responding.
In 2020, the FBI received more than 23,000 complaints concerning confidence/romance frauds, with reported losses of more than $600 million.
Furthermore, in the Northern District of California alone, the intelligence and security service received 742 complaints in 2021, much outnumbering the 720 and 526 complaints received in 2020 and 2019, respectively. In December, an Australian couple lost over $100k to a crypto scam.
On the warning, the FBI also outlined some small tips that investors should consider to protect themselves from the phony accounts:
Before this, as TheCoinRise reported, the FBI also issued a public warning regarding scams via ATMs and QR codes.
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