SASKATCHEWAN – Provincial RCMP are noticing a huge increase in cryptocurrency fraud, and it’s costing people hundreds of thousands of dollars. Looking back over the past year in Swift Current alone, police received 105 reports of fraudulent calls with a total of $361,000 in losses to cryptocurrency fraud.
Maidstone RCMP also said they received 37 reports of similar phone calls with a whopping $570,000 in cryptocurrency fraud loss.
“There are thousands of different cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency companies in the market today. Some are legitimate companies, while others may have weak online security or are completely fraudulent,” said Cst. Maxwell. “Investigating cryptocurrency fraud is complex as perpetrators are often at various international locations, or hiding through hard to trace IP addresses.”
Maxwell is one of two Crypto Coordinators for the Saskatchewan RCMP. His job is to review cryptocurrency files, then help officers in how to further their investigations.
“Once a crypto transaction has been completed, it cannot be reversed,” Maxwell said, reinforcing the old adage ‘if the investment looks too good to be true, it probably is.’
There seem to be a few common angles fraudsters use in these scams, such as pretending to be from a government agency demanding overdue taxes. In this case, the scammer wants a potential victim to use a cryptocurrency ATM to buy and send that currency.
Another method is the ‘learn to trade crypto’ scam where the fraudster tries to get a victim to send money in order to learn the secrets of trading cryptocurrency.
A third way scammers will try and fool you is simply through false advertising. Sadly, these scammers can be successful in luring victims into investing their life savings, investing in a fake company or compromising the victim’s digital wallet.
The bottom line according to Maxwell is to know who you’re dealing with when it comes to cryptocurrency,
“If you choose to invest, use a major reputable trading platform or online exchange and do your research to protect yourself,”he said, adding that he also recommends individuals to monitor the price of cryptocurrency themselves on a reputable trading program.
“We have lots of investment scams, where the scammer says the victim made 20 per cent on their Ethereum investment for example, when they were actually going down 10 per cent. A good way to know if you’re being scammed is to verify through other sources what your investment company tells you.”
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