A resident of Middlesex County in the United Kingdom has fallen victim to crypto fraud and lost more than $100K at the time of writing.
Fraud Continues to Be a Big Problem
Police authorities suggest the fraud occurred after the victim formed a relationship with an unknown person online. While this wasn’t necessarily a romance scam, it very much operated in the same manner. The defrauded person began engaging in regular conversations with the other party and at first, everything seemed to be going smoothly.
From there, however, it appears the friend presented them with an alleged crypto investing opportunity on social media. Initially, it appears the victim was referred to what was likely a valid crypto investing platform. However, they were ultimately directed to a phony website, and the person invested approximately $110,000 over the course of three months.
The investigation is presently ongoing after a resident of Thames Center reported the fraud to police. In a statement, law enforcement officials explained:
Fraud is a multi-billion dollar per year business and modern, tech-savvy fraudsters will do their best to create confusion and chaos during interactions, leading victims to react impulsively and hand over their money.
These kinds of fraud cases are nothing new. Often occurring under the guise of romance and relationship seeking, individuals are usually fooled into placing their money into crypto investment sites that are ultimately under the control of the people they’re talking to (they later turn out to be hackers and cyberthieves).
They convince the people that they need to get involved in crypto and that they’re missing out on potential returns. When the victims give in and start to invest, they wind up seeing their portfolios expand and their excitement grows.
However, as soon as they attempt to make withdrawals, they’re blocked off, and are often told that they need to invest more prior to taking their money out. It’s a catch-22 of sorts in that they’ll likely never see their money again despite all the time and energy they put into investing.
FTX Is a Big Example
Of course, this is nothing compared to the largest form of fraud to occur within the crypto space as of late. This involves, of course, the now defunct crypto exchange FTX, which is in serious trouble after it was alleged that its once prominent executive Sam Bankman-Fried – previously lauded as the golden boy of the digital currency arena – used customer funds to purchase luxury Bahamian real estate.
In addition, SBF is also accused of taking user money to pay off loans utilized for his other company Alameda Research. After being arrested in the Bahamas a few weeks ago and extradited back to the United States, he was ordered to await his upcoming trial at his parents’ California home.
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- Source: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/middlesex-county-resident-falls-victim-to-crypto-fraud/
