JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (WGEM) – An annual FBI report on cryptocurrency fraud found that 2023 was the busiest year yet for the growing technology.
A combined $5.6 billion in losses was reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2023, from just over 69,000 complaints.
The same report showed Missouri alone lost $55,022,745 to a reported 838 scams.
The most common targets of the scams were those over the age of 60, the next youngest demographic, 50-59 years old, followed in second place.
Cryptocurrency fraud takes many different forms, the most common being investment fraud, followed by breaches of personal data, tech support fraud and confidence schemes.
J. Scott Christianson, Director of the University of Missouri’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, said consumers should immediately be suspicious when demands for payment come through a phone call, when they are overly urgent or time-sensitive, and especially when they involve digital currency.
“There’s no legitimate business, government authority, or bank that’s going to ask for that,” Christianson said.
“Always go through a legitimate provider. Something like a credit card or something like a bank, because those are what we call Know Your Customer, or ‘KYC compliant,’ and they will make sure that not only they know who you are, they know who the other people are as well.”
The FBI offers the following advice to consumers to help them avoid being victimized by a cryptocurrency scam.
- Criminals will seek to instill a sense of urgency and isolation.
- When receiving an unsolicited call by an unknown caller claiming to work for a well-known company or government agency, hang up and independently research the company or agency’s publicly published phone number and call it to confirm the authenticity of the original call.
- No legitimate law enforcement or government official will call to demand payment via a cryptocurrency kiosk.
- Never give personally-identifying information to anyone without verifying the person is who they say they are.
- Verify the validity of any investment opportunity strangers or long-lost contacts offer on social media websites. If you have never met an individual in real life, even if you have spoken on the phone or video chatted, be very cautious of accepting investment advice or opportunities.
- Be on the lookout for domain or website names that impersonate legitimate financial institutions, especially cryptocurrency exchanges.
- Fraudulent businesses often use website addresses that mimic real financial institutions, but are often slightly different, to convince people the fraudulent website is legitimate.
- Do not download or use suspicious-looking apps as a tool for investing unless you can verify the legitimacy of the app.
- If an investment opportunity sounds too good to be true, it likely is. Be cautious of get-rich-quick schemes.
- Investment involves risk. Individuals should invest based on their financial objectives and financial resources and, if in any doubt, should seek advice from a licensed financial adviser.
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