Students and job seekers should be wary of a specific type of crypto fraud that falsely promises work-from-home opportunities, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) warns.
‘Money Mule’ scams involve criminals who trick people into sending and receiving money to their bank accounts, digital wallets or spot market crypto trading accounts as part of their supposed work responsibilities.
Melanie Devoe, director of the CFTC’s Office of Customer Education and Outreach (OCEO), warns that even unwitting participants in money laundering can face criminal charges.
“Young people looking for summer jobs may only be looking for a part-time income and may be attracted to offers that require them to be online for a few hours a day. Unfortunately, they may unknowingly become complicit in money laundering or what the criminals call ‘money mules’, and that association could land them in jail.”
The CFTC notes that victims may be instructed to use Bitcoin (BTC) kiosks or other on-ramps to move cash into digital assets on a blockchain. They can also receive a large payment for a single crypto wallet and then be instructed to split that payment and send it into smaller portions to a list of other addresses.
The regulator is also warning the public to beware of “pig slaughter” romance scams.
In pig slaughter, bad actors form a relationship with a victim online to gain their trust and convince the victim to invest in cryptocurrency platforms that the scammers control. Once the victim has invested a significant amount of money, the scammer disappears with the money.
The fraudsters call their victims ‘pigs’ because they use elaborate storylines to ‘fatten’ the victim into believing they have a close relationship.
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