JAKARTA – Scamming or crypto fraud is increasingly being carried out by a number of individuals in the US. This time the victim was an old man who had retired from his job. The pension fund is almost sold out by scammers. Luckily, law enforcement managed to apprehend the fraudsters and confiscate stolen Bitcoins which were worth 547 thousand US dollars or around IDR 7.8 billion. The Bitcoin will reportedly be returned to the victim.
Reported by CryptoPotato, US attorney Dena J. King announced that law enforcement confiscated US$547,000 worth of bitcoins from a criminal who deceived parents last year. Officers will return all funds to the victim.
In his latest effort to combat fraudulent activity involving cryptocurrencies, American officials confiscated more than $500,000 in bitcoins from a criminal. The latter drained the Ashville resident last year, as the amount represented his retirement savings.
According to an announcement from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), scammers deceived victims that their personal data had been used to facilitate illicit operations such as drug trafficking and money laundering. The fraudster, claiming to be Agent James Hoffman, told the man to deposit funds into a "secure" government account to protect himself.
Then, the criminals advise the victim to buy bitcoins through the crypto trading app Coinbase and transfer the crypto assets to the account. The victim used all of her retirement savings, the equivalent of about 547 thousand US dollars, to buy about 12 BTC.
Luckily for the victim, Coinbase and the FBI conducted an investigation and managed to identify the scam.
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After that, US Attorney Dena J. King decided to seize the funds from the criminals and return them to the victims. Court officials praised the joint efforts of the FBI and Coinbase. He also noted that crypto scams usually don't end well for victims because they are considered to be devastating financially and psychologically to people caught in the act of scamming.
“Fortunately, in this case, the fraud was detected quickly, and the stolen funds were returned to the victim. Unfortunately, most of these cases don't have the same ending."
US Department of Justice Advice to Avoid Scams
The DOJ revealed that the victims of crypto fraud are often experienced by people who are old. Victims usually have no financial knowledge and are therefore easily deceived.
Criminals often introduce themselves as grandchildren to parents demanding funds because they need to pay for, rent, or repair a car.
Romance fraud is also not left behind. In many cases, parents are lonely, and scammers initiate contact by presenting themselves as their online date. After seeing interest, criminals ask victims to send digital assets to dubious accounts (funds that can be used for vacations or even wedding arrangements).
Due to the prevalence of various modes of crypto fraud, the Ministry of Justice advises crypto asset owners not to share their personal information with others. The DOJ also appealed to people not to transfer funds to unknown addresses. In addition, digital asset owners are expected not to send gift cards, checks, or money orders to strangers, as reported by CryptoPotato.
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