Crypto assets scams

Across the world regulators are reporting an increase in crypto scams. For instance, in the United States of America in the year ended 31 March 2022 46,000 US citizens were reportedly scammed of more than $1B in crypto assets. Over the next couple of articles, I will provide examples of the most common types of crypto scams.?

Investment scams involve a bad actor simply enticing people to send either money or crypto assets to the bad actor on promises of huge gains.

The bad actor normally represents themselves as a “investment manager” a “celebrity” or a “potential girlfriend”. ?

Whatever role is assumed by the bad actor they promise to grow your investment if you transfer funds or your existing crypto asset to a particular account. Once the unsuspecting investor follows through on the transfer request the funds or crypto assets are gone.

Also, bad actor run pump and dump schemes. In these schemes bad actors entice you to buy an obscure crypto at a rock bottom price with promises the crypto will to go through the roof. After you buy the crypto and consequently the crypto price rises the bad actor dumps their crypto at the higher crypto price causing the crypto price to collapse.

Probably the warning sign for any crypto fraud scam is the promise of excessive profits or zero investment risk. These schemes are often promoted on social media or online dating sites, so be wary of anyone contacting you out of the blue about crypto assets.