FBI warns against rising crypto romance scams during Valentine’s week

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The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning against an increase in romance scams in the San Francisco Bay Area, with the latest trend involving cryptocurrencies.

Just days before Valentine’s Day, the FBI San Francisco field office alerted the public to a rise in romance scams based on complaints filed with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). A romance scam involves creating fake accounts and persuading unknown investors – both men and women – to transfer funds under the pretext of being romantic. According to information shared by the FBI:

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Victims in the area of ​​the FBI San Francisco Division lost more than $64 million in romance scandals compared to just $35 million in 2020.

In 2021 alone, the Intelligence and Security Service filed 742 complaints in the Northern District of California, which oversees 720 and 526 complaints filed in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

In addition, IC3 received over 23,000 complaints about Confidence/Romance scandals in 2020 – with losses exceeding $600 million. The FBI warning reads:

“The FBI San Francisco has observed a growing trend in which romance scammers are persuading individuals to send money to invest in or trade in cryptocurrency.”

A typical romance scam begins with gaining the trust of the victims, who are then diverted to fraudulent platforms citing investment opportunities. While scammers allow investors to withdraw some profit from the initial trade as a way to prove credibility, victims are forced to invest more money or cryptocurrency:

“When the victim is ready to withdraw funds again, scammers create reasons why this cannot happen. The victim is informed that additional taxes or fees need to be paid, or to allow withdrawals The minimum account balance has not been met.”

However, scammers usually stop responding after victims refuse to add more funds. The FBI recommends that victims of romance scams report their activities and contact their banks.

Some tips suggested by the FBI for avoiding romance scams include not taking investment advice purely from online conversations, not disclosing financial information, staying away from promises of unrealistic profits, and being “beware of individuals who are “specialists”. Claims investment opportunities and urges you to act fast.”

related: Scam Alert! Binance CEO warns users of massive SMS phishing scam

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao recently alerted the crypto community against a “massive” SMS phishing scam targeting Binance customers.

As Cointelegraph reported, the scam involved sending users a text message with a link to cancel the withdrawal, leading users to a fake website designed to siphon off their login credentials. Zhao recommends manually typing in the URL of the crypto exchange as a measure to combat the ongoing scams.