A retiree situated in Alor Gajah, Malaysia was deceived into losing RM132,407 as a result of being tricked by a cryptocurrency investment scam. The fraudulent scheme claimed to offer substantial profits in just six hours after enrolling in the program.
The Crypto Scam
According to Supt Arshad Abu, the chief of police in the Alor Gajah district, on May 2, the victim, who is 57 years old, came across an ad on Facebook while browsing at home. He decided to invest RM1,000 to start with and gradually raised his investment to RM132,407 from May 3 to 11.
Regrettably, he realized that he had been scammed and immediately lodged a police report on May 16. The authorities are presently scrutinizing the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code that deals with fraud.
Gajah also advised the public to be careful when encountering online investment scams and to immediately report any funds handed over to deceitful organizations to the National Scam Response Centre at 997.
Crypto Scam Statistics
The overall revenue generated by fraudulent activities in the cryptocurrency industry saw a significant surge of 82%, amounting to a whopping $7.8 billion in 2022. The alarming fact is that scammers have been able to pilfer more than $1 billion since 2021.
Bitcoin remains the top choice for scammers to receive payments, accounting for 70% of the cases, followed by Tether (10%) and Ether (9%). Scammers receive most of their cryptocurrency through fraudulent means. Binance, a renowned crypto exchange, has also recently published an article to help their users identify any scam.
Scammers involved in crypto fraud tend to use highly inventive methods, employing various tactics to trap unsuspecting victims or extract sensitive information from them. Some of the most common crypto scams include schemes involving blackmail and extortion, fraudulent business opportunities, fake job offers, and deceptive giveaways.
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One common type of deception involves schemes related to Bitcoin investments, wherein scammers pretend to be seasoned “investment managers” and guarantee investors that they can make returns on their investments.
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