Elderly people report the greatest losses
The FBI just dropped its annual report examining the costs of crypto-related cybercrime, painting a predictably grim picture as total losses in the US exceeded $5.6 billion in 2023 – a 45 percent year-on-year increase.
It's clearly a tried and tested method – the number of yearly complaints has doubled in the past few years. Fewer than 35,000 complaints were made in 2021, the last time crypto scams saw any kind of downturn. Since then, annual losses have soared by multiple billions each year. Investment scams"with a nexus to cryptocurrency" incurred losses amounting to $3.9 billion alone – the only category of crypto-related financial fraud to exceed nine figures.
"The schemes are socially engineered and trust-enabled, whereby criminals use dating apps, social media platforms, professional networking sites, or encrypted messaging apps to establish relationships with their targets," the"Criminals claim to have some expertise or know an expert who can help potential investors achieve financial success. Criminals then convince their targets to use fraudulent websites or apps, controlled by the criminals, to invest in cryptocurrency.
"If an investment opportunity comes from someone who you have never met in person – you have never met them for coffee, never walked together in the park, never gone together to see a movie – be extremely cautious of the advice."There are legitimate liquidity mining operations running, which see investors' assets pooled together to support the liquidity traders require, and in return investors are paid a portion of the trading fees.
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