The Secret Service – that’s right, the organization tasked with guarding the President of the United States – is warning investors that getting involved in crypto may not be such a good idea given the growing number of scams that appear to be occurring across the country. The Secret Service Says It Might Be Good to Stay Away from Crypto Bill Mack – a resident agent of the Secret Service in east Texas – is telling residents that they should look elsewhere when it comes to finding potential investment tools to engage with. He stated in a recent interview that the number of scams involving crypto have surged, and he’s concerned about their financial and mental safety. Some of the scams the Secret Service presently knows about involve romance scams, tech scams, and even
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The Secret Service – that’s right, the organization tasked with guarding the President of the United States – is warning investors that getting involved in crypto may not be such a good idea given the growing number of scams that appear to be occurring across the country.
The Secret Service Says It Might Be Good to Stay Away from Crypto
Bill Mack – a resident agent of the Secret Service in east Texas – is telling residents that they should look elsewhere when it comes to finding potential investment tools to engage with. He stated in a recent interview that the number of scams involving crypto have surged, and he’s concerned about their financial and mental safety.
Some of the scams the Secret Service presently knows about involve romance scams, tech scams, and even arrest warrant scams. Mack explained:
These victims are being told to pay through cryptocurrency ATMs. They’re often being directed to these specific ATMs and then they’re putting the money in the ATM and sending it to the address provided by the criminal, and then it’s gone very rapidly.
He says that while many members of the United States are often targeted by what appear to be local organizations, the fact is that many of these groups are based overseas. They operate in international jurisdictions, which makes them hard to find and trace. He commented:
They are professionals at this. This is what they do full-time. It’s essentially their job to scam people.
Mack also mentioned that it can be very difficult to get money back when it’s lost through a crypto scam. This affects many elderly victims, who often wind up putting their retirement funds into the crypto space thinking that it will make them much wealthier. These are funds that they often need to live and cover medical expenses. Sadly, it disappears at the hands of scammers, and that money usually winds up gone forever. He says:
The elderly [are] disproportionately affected by this, especially tech scams and scams that play on certain emotions like fear and love.
Romance scams are also quite common. Typically, what happens is that a victim reaches out to a scammer after being contacted by them on social media. They get involved in an online relationship and are often convinced to forward digital money to an account that the scammer controls. He stated:
Eventually the scammer will build up the confidence or a relationship with the victim and eventually parlay that into conversations about seeking money for a variety of different things.
These Scams Are Becoming Too Common
Not long ago, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) stated that crypto scams are becoming the second most dangerous scams out there given that they are occurring more often and will usually take larger sums from their victims.
A recent report also stated that the crypto romance scam group Crypto Rom is getting much bigger.