If you dabble in cryptocurrency, it’s best to be extra vigilant if you receive a random message that purports to be from a trading app. Fake crypto app scams are proliferating, the FBI warns, and scammers are making off with millions.
A new report from the FBI said that 244 Americans have been robbed of an estimated $42.7 million by cybercrooks promoting fake crypto apps.
The agency is advising financial institutions as well as individual investors to be vigilant. They say crooks have had “increasing success” siphoning away unsuspecting investors’ cryptocurrency.
Stealing a few logos and setting up a website that mimics a well-known financial company is an old trick, and crooks today are using this scheme to swindle people out of crypto. In April, cybersecurity website KrebsOnSecurity posted about a crypto-related scam that used the name of famous portfolio manager Cathie Wood and her investment firm ARK Invest to direct victims to a fake website in order to defraud them with the promise of a cryptocurrency “giveaway.”
Now, you have to watch out for fake mobile apps as well as fake websites.
…
