WEST TEXAS (KOSA) – Over the years cryptocurrency has become more mainstream.
This growth in popularity also introduces more scams in the crypto market.
According to the FBI, there is anywhere from 9,000 to 2.5 million different types of cryptocurrency.
“These transactions tend to be very safe with the way the algorithm and the way that different sets of computers that are set up to do these things are run. They create a leger that can’t be changed and is actually one of the better ways to move currency,” said Special Agent Jeffrey Feisinger, for the FBI in El Paso.
Like anything, cryptocurrency does have its drawbacks.
A main one being once you pay someone you can’t get the money back, there is no way to dispute a charge.
The only way to get that money back is if the recipient is willing to send it back.
If you’ve been scammed, that is unlikely to be the case.
One of the most common scams run in the cryptocurrency world is called Pig Butchering.
After a scammer contacts and connects with somebody, similar to the start of a romance scam, they will direct them to invest.
“They send them a link with this QR code and the QR code usually has them open up what they think is a secure wallet. It is actually just one wallet. Everybody’s money is going into one big wallet,” Feisinger said.
After these people invest a small amount of money several times and see that they have gained a lot of money, money that is faked by the scammers, they are encouraged to invest more.
“Once these people invest a large amount of money, that’s when the money’s gone,” said Feisinger.
These scams are also very common on social media especially with influencers in the crypto space.
Most of these scams are run by people in other countries which makes it hard to find and prosecute them.
Last year Americans lost about $4 billion to crypto scams.
For people just in Midland-Odessa the loss was $4.7 million.
“Ways that you can avoid being a victim in these types of scams is to make sure that you do your homework on wanting to invest in cryptocurrency. Just like anything else, if it seems too good to be true it probably is,” Feisinger said.
They also recommend that if you do have a crypto wallet to keep it only on a secure encrypted hard drive that is only plugged in when needing to access the wallet.
“Cryptocurrency is not going away. At this point, because of the success that it has already had and the fact that it is a safe way to transfer money from one place to another it’s going to stay around. You need to make sure you’re educating yourself about how to safely use it,” said Feisinger.
If you have fallen victim to a cryptocurrency scam the FBI encourages you to report it on the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which can be reached at IC3.gov
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