"Bogus Cryptocurrency Apps Swindle Users Out of Millions, FBI Warns"

FBI recently stated in an alert that fraudulent cryptocurrency investment apps bilked at least 244 victims out of nearly $43 million.  The fraudulent apps identified in the alert posed as legitimate banking institutions, inviting investors to deposit funds and then telling them that they couldn’t make a withdrawal unless they paid alleged taxes on their investments first.  Even after paying the fees, victims were unable to access funds.  The FBI noted that two of the fake exchanges named in the alert stole branding from legitimate or formerly legitimate exchanges to confuse victims.  The FBI said one of the firms, YiBit, defrauded at least four victims of approximately $5.5 million between October 2021 and May 22.  Criminals behind Supayos, the other fraudulent exchange named in the alert, signed one victim up to a fake subscription to an account with a minimum balance of $900,000 without his consent and said if he didn’t comply, his assets would be frozen.  The Federal Trade Commission found that losses to cryptocurrency scams climbed steeply between January 2021 and March 2022.  Over half of the $1 billion in reported losses could be traced to investment scams such as those flagged in the FBI alert.  The FBI alert urged financial institutions to proactively warn consumers of potential scams and periodically search online for scammers copying their name or logo.

CyberScoop reports: "Bogus Cryptocurrency Apps Swindle Users Out of Millions, FBI Warns"