The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has launched a new public awareness campaign designed to show potential crypto-investment fraud victims what scams look like.
The campaign’s particular focus is men under 45, who are apparently the most likely victims of this kind of fraud.
Action Fraud received over 17,000 reports regarding investment fraud last year, the NCA said. Victims are tricked by professional-looking websites and apps into putting large sums of cryptocurrency in what end up being non-existent investment schemes.
Such schemes usually promise high returns and may even pay out a small amount early on in the scam to encourage further deposits. However, when the victim tries to withdraw their profits, their account is usually blocked and/or they’re asked for more money in taxes or fees to unlock their funds.
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Scams can start in a number of ways – via unsolicited emails or texts, and social media ads and posts, potentially from hacked accounts. Scammers may also lurk on dating sites and spend several days or weeks flattering their victims, building a romantic relationship, before introducing them to the investment opportunity. This combination of tactics is known as romance baiting (or “pig butchering”).
The NCA’s new “Crypto Dream Scam Nightmare” campaign is being delivered through the Home Office’s Stop! Think Fraud initiative.
It includes a short video of a victim who thought his ‘investment’ of £28,000 had grown to £400,000 in six months before realizing he was being scammed.
Staying Safe From Scams
The campaign also contains an info sheet with 10 tips on spotting and avoiding investment fraud. This includes the following:
- Don’t respond to unsolicited day trading or crypto investment ‘companies’ on social media or dating platforms
- Be especially cautious of invites to be a ‘member of an exclusive club’ or anything purporting to come from a finance ‘professor’ or ‘guru’
- Beware of continuous pressure to make more investments and messages that are sent outside of normal business hours
- Be immediately suspicious if you’re told not to tell family or friends about your ‘new investment’
“Crypto-investment fraud is one of the fastest growing types of fraud in the UK, experienced by those who believe their ‘investment’ will vastly grow their money,” warned Nick Sharp, deputy director fraud at the NCA’s National Economic Crime Centre (NECC).
“The knowledge that their money has, in truth, been stolen and they will never see any returns is a financial and emotional loss. Lives are destroyed and people can sometimes never be made whole after falling victim to this crime.”
According to the FBI, investment fraud is the highest earning cybercrime type, costing victims nearly $6.6bn in reported losses last year. Second-placed business email compromise (BEC) accounted for just $2.8bn.