The FBI says investment fraud was the form of cybercrime that incurred the greatest financial loss for Americans last year.
3 Crypto Scams YOU WILL Fall For & How to avoid
Investment scams, often promising huge returns, led to reported losses of $4.57 billion throughout the year — up 38 percent from $3.31 billion in 2022. The vast majority prey on those looking to make a quick buck with cryptocurrency, with this type of fraud contributing just $4 billion to the total losses.
The FBI warned of increases in crypto scams last March, saying most begin with some form of social engineering, such as a romance or confidence scam, which then evolves into crypto investment scams.
These disadvantages also led to an increase in scams with the theme of recovering funds lost to investment scams, which prey on vulnerable victims at their lowest. In some cases, victims would be roped in for long periods of time and convinced to make multiple payments to recovery services that would never reunite them with their stolen money.
