In a report released on Monday, the FBI stated that fraudulent schemes employing bitcoin defrauded Americans of over $5.6 billion last year, a 45% increase in losses from 2022.
According to the FBI, victims of financial fraud utilizing bitcoin, ether, and other cryptocurrencies filed close to 70,000 complaints with the agency in 2023.
With $3.96 billion of the losses coming from investment fraud, it was the most widespread scheme.
According to Michael Nordwall, assistant director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division, “the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency, the speed of irreversible transactions, and the ability to transfer value around the world make cryptocurrency an attractive vehicle for criminals while creating challenges to recover stolen funds.”
The FBI noted that before recommending cryptocurrency trading, scammers frequently establish trust through social media or dating apps over several weeks or months.
Laptops 1000When a rapport is established, they persuade the targets to invest their money using phony websites or applications; occasionally, they even let the victims take out tiny sums of money at first to make it appear real.
As to the FBI, fraudulent enterprises have been known to prey on these victims by promising to assist them in getting back the cryptocurrency they had lost.
Authorities from the FBI said that people who have never met in person can offer investment opportunities to Americans of any age and that people should proceed with utmost caution.
