FBI Issues Warning About Crypto Fraud Scheme In Play-to-Earn Games

JAKARTA - Cryptocurrencies are increasingly popular and along with that more and more people are trying to get into it. However, the increasing popularity of crypto also makes cryptocurrencies an easy target for cybercriminals. One form of alleged fraud occurs in the scope of play-to-earn games, which promises rewards for user actions.

Unfortunately, this game is also the entry point for criminals to steal cryptocurrencies from suspicious users. The FBI has issued a recent warning regarding this, and provided some tips to avoid becoming victims of this kind of scam.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agency issued a recent warning about the dangers of play-to-earn in a fraudulent scheme aimed at stealing cryptocurrencies from suspicious users. On March 9, the institution issued a PSA in this regard, explaining how criminals lure users to put cryptocurrencies behind play-to-earn games.

As additional information, PSA is abbreviation of Public Service Announcement or Announcement of Public Services in Indonesian. This is a form of message designed to provide information or appeal to the public about issues related to public safety, health, or welfare.

According to the PSA, criminals usually build relationships with victims first, to gain their trust. After that, they lure them to participate in online play-to-earn games, which offer rewards for their actions, and place cryptocurrencies in crypto wallets as a staking mechanism.

Criminals usually promise a reward comparable to the amount of cryptocurrency stored in the wallet. Thus, users are tempted to add more cryptocurrencies to their wallet in order to get a bigger reward. However, the reward is just fake and is actually not in the user's wallet.

According to a Bitcoin.com News report, when users want to withdraw the reward, criminals will drain their wallets from stored cryptocurrencies and ask for more cryptocurrencies to help recover lost crypto assets. As a result, victims lost all their cryptocurrencies.

To avoid becoming a victim of fraud like this, the FBI recommends that users separate their cryptocurrencies, and not store them all in a crypto wallet. The FBI also advises users to carefully check the profits they claim using third-party block explorers, and check which sites have access to funds in their crypto wallets.

In addition, the FBI also advises users not to follow offers that are too good to come true, and checks the reputation of game service providers or apps before investing their cryptocurrencies. If users feel they have become victims of this kind of scam, the FBI also asks them to immediately report the case.

Crypto scams like this are nothing new, but are growing as cryptocurrency popularity increases. Therefore, it is important for users to remain vigilant and take steps to protect their cryptocurrencies from criminals looking for opportunities to launch their actions.