The Better Business Bureau has issued a new warning involving investment scams and something people may not be too familiar with – cryptocurrency.
Investment fraud reports hit record high in 2023, according to BBB.
Scammers often use romance to lure you in — and often use cryptocurrency, too, according to the organization. It is this layer of confusion that makes it easier for criminals to go undetected, BBB explained.
The scam often starts with unsolicited investment advice via social media or WhatsApp. For example, you should also be careful when someone you’ve met on a dating site or online mentions cryptocurrency or an investment opportunity and tries to sign you up.
In other cases, people sign up after seeing investment posts on a friend or family member’s Facebook page. Unbeknownst to them, these Facebook pages have usually been hacked.
According to the BBB, the average amount of money lost to investment scams rose from $1,000 in 2021 to nearly $6,000 this year.
“We see a lot with cryptocurrency where they want you to buy investment cryptocurrency because nobody really understands,” said Steve Bernas with BBB of Chicago and Northern Illinois.
Consumers lost more than $4.6 billion to investment scams last year — more than any other fraud category, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Below are some key takeaways:
- Do not believe any investment opportunity that uses the word “guaranteed” or offers “low” or “no risk” with “high returns”.
- Be aware of high pressure sales tactics. Many risky investments are sold at “opportunity meetings” or other high-pressure situations where someone shares a fictitious success story. These people are usually paid and can lie.
- And be sure to ask – how will this investment make you money? in some cases you may need to recruit others. It can often mean that you are involved in a pyramid scheme.