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Texas (KXII) – The Better Business Bureau says investment and cryptocurrency scams are on the rise, along with the amount they’re taking.

Monica Horton with the BBB said these scammers often play the long game to gain trust.

“They are developing a friendly relationship with someone over the course of several months,” she said.

Then they use that trust to convince victims into “investing” their money into something like the stock market or cryptocurrency.

“It’s a pretty involved scam where they are setting up these great looking platforms where you can watch your money grow,” Horton said.

Unfortunately for the victims, it’s just a facade.

“You start out small, but you keep on sending money,” Horton said. “So when it comes time to withdraw is when people realize that they have been scammed.”

That increased trust is increasing the amount the scammers are able to take as well.

“The average loss in 2020 was around $1,000, we have seen that increase recently to $6,000,” Horton said. “We have heard from a victim who was out $138,000.”

It’s not just older folks being taken advantage of either.

“Cryptocurrency investment scams are in the top three targeting the 18 to 24 demographic,” Horton said.

Horton said that always beware of strangers online and if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

“They’re making promises of guaranteed returns on your investment, that should be a red flag,” she said. “Just beware of anybody that really tries to befriend you.”

She said that prevention is key because once the money is gone, it’s usually gone for good.

“In this particular situation, there’s not a whole lot that can be done because you’ve typically sent your money outside the United States,” Horton said.

Scams can be reported to to the BBB Scam Tracker.

Copyright 2024 KXII. All rights reserved.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a strongly worded Public Service Announcement (PSA) regarding the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK’s) aggressive targeting of cryptocurrency resources. The PSA comes as state-backed hackers have been observed increasing the persistence, scale, and sophistication of their efforts targeting sectors like cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) over recent months. Thankfully, the FBI also uses its PSA to reveal some of the social engineering tactics and mitigations to be aware of. It explains what to do if you think you’ve fallen victim to the DPRK’s malicious cyber actors.

According to the FBI’s statement, the DPRK’s latest digital onslaught is “complex and elaborate, often compromising victims with sophisticated technical acumen.” Individuals and firms in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry are now favored targets. However, malicious cyber actors have been observed researching and preparing to focus on targets connected to cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) – so if you work with ETFs, you should be more careful than ever. The DPRK is happy to steal cryptocurrency funds from anywhere, though.

One of the characteristics of this new wave of malicious cyber activity from the DPRK is the extensive research being completed before an attempted heist. For social engineering purposes, the malicious actors will “scout prospective victims by reviewing social media activity, particularly on professional networking or employment-related platforms.” So, watch what platforms you are LinkedOn (ahem), and be sensitive to the depth of details you are communicating and sharing.

In addition to taking their time to cultivate topics and conversations with intended victims, DPRK agents sometimes impersonate people that a victim knows about (e.g., a prominent professional) or knows directly. It seems that those looking for a career move or change may be particularly vulnerable, as the FBI says DPRK agents also commonly impersonate recruitment firms.