A British man got scammed out of $282,000 in a brutal cryptocurrency scam and at one point, scammers visited his house to collect more money so let’s read more in our latest cryptocurrency news today.
The UK Metropolitan Police reported an increase in online investment scams especially after the lockdown started. Crypto scams became a multimillion-dollar industry and now the latest victim was a man from Nottinghamshire. The British man got scammed out of $282,000 as per the police reports and he was duped into following an online conversation in 2020. The scammers talked him into investing his money in a fake brokerage company and promised huge returns on the Bitcoin bull run.
The tricksters also scammed the man and made him give them remote access to his computer where they drained sensitive personal details and took out loans in his tame. They later harassed him and intimidated him by showing up at his doorstep to collect more money for further investment. Detective Sergeant David Breach said in the police report:
“Reports of investment fraud have increased significantly since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which is unsurprising when you think the vast majority of us have had to conduct nearly every aspect of our lives on a computer or mobile phone.”
While the scam sounds nefarious, these types of scams are common and the methods are manifold. On June 2 we saw Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak losing his court case against YouTube after scammers used his image in videos to defraud users. The court ruled that under US Federal Law online platforms are not responsible for the uploaded content. According to the US Federal Trade Commission, in the six months between October 2020 and March 2021, American consumers reported losses of $82 million to online crypto scammers. In Australia, the situation is just as bad as the consumer commission reported that the Australians paid up to $20 million in BTC and other cryptos to scammers in 2020.
People that are looking to get into crypto have plenty of reputable onramps at their disposal. It’s best to not reply to unsolicited communications from uknown senders that promise high returns in a short time.
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