Investors Lose $1bn To Crypto Scams In One Year —US Regulator
TECHDIGEST – The United States Federal Trade Commission has said more than 46,000 people have reported losing over $1bn in cryptocurrency to scams since the beginning of 2021.
According to the commission, this is about one out of every four dollars reported lost, and more than any other payment method. It added that the average person lost an average of $2,600.
It disclosed this in a ‘Data Spotlight’ report on its website. It said $680 million in cryptocurrency fraud losses were reported in 2021 while $329m in crypto fraud have been reported in the first quarter 2022. In 2020 it was $130m, $33m in 2019, and $12m in 2018.
READ ALSO:
The commission said, “The top cryptocurrencies people said they used to pay scammers were Bitcoin (70 per cent), Tether (10 per cent), and Ether (9 per cent).
“Crypto has several features that are attractive to scammers, which may help to explain why the reported losses in 2021 were nearly sixty times what they were in 2018. There’s no bank or other centralized authority to flag suspicious transactions and attempt to stop fraud before it happens.
Read Also:
“Crypto transfers can’t be reversed – once the money’s gone, there’s no getting it back. And most people are still unfamiliar with how crypto works. These considerations are not unique to crypto transactions, but they all play into the hands of scammers.
“Reports point to social media and crypto as a combustible combination for fraud. Nearly half the people who reported losing crypto to a scam since 2021 said it started with an ad, post, or message on a social media platform.
“During this period, nearly four out of every ten dollars reported lost to a fraud originating on social media was lost in crypto, far more than any other payment method. The top platforms identified in these reports were Instagram (32 per cent), Facebook (26 per cent), WhatsApp (9 per cent), and Telegram (seven per cent).”
The commission added that of the reported crypto fraud losses that began on social media, most ($575m) were investment scams followed by romance scams came with $185m in the reporting period.
It said people ages 20 to 49 were most likely to have fallen prey to a cryptocurrency scam.
Source: punchng.com
