The FBI has revealed that more than 200 victims have lost $42 Million dollars from apps they used for crypto trading.
There are many ways that people have lost money online including credit card scams, identity theft and through phishing.
The FBI has revealed that more than 200 victims have lost $42 Million dollars from apps they used for crypto trading.
There are many ways that people have lost money online including credit card scams, identity theft and through phishing.
The FBI has issued a stark warning that cybercriminals have been “contacting US investors, fraudulently claiming to offer legitimate cryptocurrency investment services, and convincing investors to download fraudulent mobile apps, which the cyber criminals have used with increasing success over time to defraud the investors of their cryptocurrency.”
So here’s how the scam works.
The scammer convinces the victim to download an app that uses a logo and name of a legitimate crypto establishment.
Then they ask for their currencies to be deposited into wallets they say is associated with the new account.
After that, game over. The victim is unable to withdraw that money from the wallets as the crooks have now taken full control.
On some occasions the crook even impersonates a celebrity
On an other occasion, the scammers used the name of the company YitBit, which closed down a few years ago.
And with a fake app imitating YitBit, they made more than $5 million dollars from various scammers.
Many more examples like this may be found.
And some say this is because there is no authority.
The FBI has also shared some advice saying, be cautious in “unsolicited requests to download investment applications”.
But do you want to know the real secret to not to getting hacked.
Then watch our explainer.
