According to a report by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), more than 46,000 people have reported losing over $1 billion in various crypto scam starting from 2021. Approximately half of them agreed on how all of this started from a mere ad, post or a direct message on social media platforms. Of all crypto losses reported to FTC, fake investment opportunities were behind $575 million which is a big number considering any other fraud type. The unmatchable craze for cryptocurrency the year before was quite high since bitcoin hit its peak of $69,000 in November.
Crypto Scam Targeting youngsters
Considering Cryptocurrency as a good investment to gain direct exposure to the demand for digital currency, quite a good number of people are targeted by the fraudsters. Crypto-related crimes make up to about one out of every four dollars reported lost to fraud which is not in the case of any other payment method, as in Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram and Telegram despite them being the top social media platforms, according to the report. The victims of this scam basically are the youngsters- those aged 25-40 who are three times as likely to get scammed and face loss due to frauds like this.”The stories people share about these scams describe a perfect storm: false promises of easy money paired with people’s limited crypto understanding and experience,”: FTC
Rise in crypto scam rates
According to FTC, the average loss for an individual as reported was $2,600 and the majority of those who reported being deceived used Bitcoin to make the payment to the scammers, followed by Tether and Ether. Crypto scams have been increasing at high rates, rising up to 60 times higher than in 2018. It gives scammers all the advantages to carry out the fraud- no bank to track mistrustful transactions, transfers that cannot be reversed and naive youngsters as investors who are often unacquainted with how crypto works.
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