Launched Thursday, the DFPI’s Crypto Scam Tracker is a searchable collection of the complaints the agency has collected about crypto offers that now seem too good to be true. The complaints have been reviewed by the agency but not verified, so it’s a bit like a database of confirmed angry Yelp reviews. Nevertheless, it’s valuable in at least three ways.
First, you can search for complaints about the company or website you’re thinking of doing business with. Have other people gotten the same pitch, and if so, how has that worked out for them? Scam sites tend to appear and disappear quickly, though, so the absence of complaints is not by itself proof of legitimacy.
Second, you can search for keywords that appear in the pitch you’re considering, such as “forex” if the offer involves foreign currency trades or “deposit” if the business wants you to deposit a certain amount. Look for similarities between what you’ve been offered and what other consumers have complained about.
Third, the site includes a glossary that describes an array of scams that fraudsters are perpetrating in the crypto market. At the very least, be sure to read the entry on “Pig Butchering Scams.” You most certainly do not want to fall for one of those. After observing several complaints from scam victims, the DFPI decided to take action by developing a security tool that can warn users of potential scams and protect them from losing their funds.
The scam tracker comes with the department’s list of complaints by victims of crypto-related scams. In its complaints list, the DFPI described losses incurred in transactions that victims identify as part of fraudulent or deceptive operations. But the DFPI said it has yet to verify the scams listed, noting that it receives thousands of consumer and investor complaints yearly.
In a statement, the DFPI’s Commissioner, Clothilde Hewlett, said scammers lurk in the shadows, using public interest in crypto assets to exploit vulnerable California citizens. The commissioner added that the DFPI is taking action to identify the criminals through the new crypto scam tracker. The department is also adding other rigorous enforcement efforts to expose these scam operations and protect consumers.
In May 2021, cybercriminals sent fraudulent emails to Binance users, claiming that their accounts had been locked due to suspicious activity and asking them to click on a link to unlock their accounts. The link directed users to a fake Binance login page that looked identical to the real one, but instead, the users’ login credentials were stolen.Early this week, MetaMask warned users against Namecheap phishing email, after its email service provider Namecheap confirmed that its email account was breached on Feb. 12 — due to a compromise in its upstream system provider.
In 2019, the founders of the cryptocurrency project BitClub Network were arrested for running a $722 million Ponzi scheme. The project promised investors high returns from mining cryptocurrency, but in reality, the founders were using new investors’ funds to pay out old investors.
That same year saw the collapse of OneCoin, the cryptocurrency launched in 2014 by the Bulgarian born business woman Ruja Ignatova. In 2016, the Central Bank of Samoa issued a warning about OneCoin being a pyramid scheme, and other countries such as Germany, Italy, and Hungary also launched investigations into the project. In 2017, the Bulgarian authorities raided OneCoin’s headquarters and arrested several people associated with the project. As of February 2023, Ruja Ignatova is still missing and the fate of the OneCoin investors remains uncertain.
