Along with the price of bitcoin in the last six months, scams were noted against unsuspecting investors who wanted to take advantage of the “digital gold” rally, as its crypto currency followers call it.
A Wall Street Journal report cites data from the Federal Trade Commission for the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, according to which consumers reported losing nearly $82 million in fraud, related to crypto, an amount more than ten times more than in the same period last year.
It is difficult, however, to get an idea of the real losses of investors who were victim of the cryptocurrency fraud. The FTC figures are based on reports from the victims themselves, mainly in the US, and are therefore probably only a fraction of the total losses.
It is noted that from last October to March the price of bitcoin jumped 450% to $59.000, while other important cryptocurrencies, such as ether and dogecoin, rallied. The price of bitcoin then fell to about $36.000 but remains higher than it was during 2020.
The scammers were targeted by petty investors who scanned the media to find opportunities to Wall Street veterans who helped an Australian crypto fund manager who was recently accused of $90 million fraud.
The 28-year-old Sebastian lost about $10.000 from an investment in ether he made in a crypto company, the anonymous founders of which disappeared in May, leaving hundreds of unfortunate investors behind. The creators of “LUB Token” announced that they will create a crypto currency exchange based on the Telegram messaging application. On their own site, which no longer exists, and in a press release distributed on several crypto sites, they advertised LUB as a new crypto currency that promised daily returns of 10%.
