Fraud and Scams, News & Updates

Online Romance Scams Rising

Scams that are being carried out through romantic attraction are among the oldest tricks in the crime book. However, reports from the Financial and Cyber Crime Group also reveal that many fraudsters are modernizing their ways.

Investigators have reminded everyone to be always vigilant to online romance scams, a spear of complaints that involve cryptocurrency-related fraud – many of these have started on online dating platforms.

It has been investigated by the Financial and Cyber Crime group that has been investigating more than 70 complaints from victims over the last six months. Some victims have already lost several hundred thousand dollars.

The Culprits seem to be Criminal Organizations

It was reported that from March through May of 2020, the rate of online scams involve cryptocurrency has increased to 20%. The scams follow a predictable pattern.

Firstly, a romantic partner or even a superficial acquaintance tells an unsuspecting victim how they can make money on a particular trading platform and encourage them to deposit as many funds as possible. They reassure the client that it is perfectly safe to trade for the blockchain transactions cannot be faked; the bad actor gains the victim’s trust.

However, the platforms that the victims are directed to are fake and not deal with cryptocurrencies. Once the user has started trading, the user is known to counterfeit data to convince them that they turn a profit.

Finally, the user has displayed more fake data that shows trading losses, even though there is either no trading took place – or the deflation of the cryptocurrency that was imitated by the platform is nowhere as severe.

When a victim tries to withdraw whatever funds they have left, the bad actor either suddenly slices off all contact or demands more money to discharge the lingering funds.

The objects also often come to be victims of identity theft or data mining, carried out via usual methods – however, due to the natural surroundings of the cryptocurrency trading platforms, it doesn’t look out of place for the said fake website requesting a photo of an ID card and a selfie to perform KYC.

It was suggested that all traders employ caution and then use better judgment. Before one engages in cryptocurrency trading, always make sure that the platform that has been trading on is legitimate.

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