Crypto scammers are looking for an opportunity (or loophole) in order to exploit users with their hard-earned funds. Recently, some reports state that the LGBTQIA+ community is becoming the next ground for crypto scammers to exploit.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), scammers can pose as victims through phishing, text messages, phone calls, social media, and dating apps. Besides this, the Massachusetts government had stated that crypto scammers may target the LGBTQIA+ population due to June’s recognition of Pride Month.
Basically, Fraudsters pose themselves as a friend, lover, or family member. Through this, they request money for a financial emergency or debt. Alternatively, scammers will develop new relationships with their target with romantic intentions to then receive monetary gifts. They can also steal personal information through this. Generally, if anyone requires you to pay in the form of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, it is a sign of something not right.
In order to combat this situation, the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation put together a list of indicators. If any situation requires users to pay in crypto, that is a “red signal”. So, users need to watch out for red flags like friend requests on social media from brand-new or inactive profiles.
According to FTC, customers lost more than $1 billion as a result of fraud related to cryptocurrencies. This figure is between January 2021 and March 2022. Looking at the data closely, we find that alongside phoney investment schemes and impersonation frauds, romance scams also contributed significantly to the common fraud categories.
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