Everything Is Fair In Love? Americans Lose $185M To Romance Crypto Scams
- American investors have lost $185 million to romance crypto scams between January 2021-March 2022
- Criminals are targeting lonely people with false promises of love before stealing some of their funds
According to a recent report conducted by Bankless Times, American investors have lost as much as $185 million to romance crypto scams between January 2021 and March 2022. Such scams are becoming increasingly popular in the US, and investors are being ripped off for their hard-earned money.
Since the crypto boom of 2021, the scams conducted for draining a person’s crypto treasury are also becoming unique, and scammers keep employing new methods in their arsenal. Romance frauds are conducted by scammers who grow close to lonely victims on the pretense of love and eventually rob them of their crypto portfolio or a part of it.
According to the analysis from Bankless, romance crypto scams are the second most used techniques by scammers in which they build up trust and confidence of an interested person and pretend to “advise them” on crypto investment. Thereafter, they will steal keys and other important data or just transfer the funds to their wallet.
“Victims of romance scams learn that the heart is not so smart the hard way. Their search for love makes them easy pickings for conniving individuals that dupe them out of their money. They put on an elaborate con that has their victims swooning over them, and by the time the victim catches on, they’ll be several thousand dollars poor.”
said BanklessTimes’ CEO Jonathan Merry
Merry also added that on an average, investors lose about $10,000 via romance crypto scams. However, romance frauds are not the only way that scammers are following.
FTC’s report on crypto scams
According to a June report from Federal Trade Commission (FTC), investment scams are the most common method through which people are being scammed. The authority has received complaints of American investors getting scammed for a total of $575 million since 2021.
In crypto investment scams, the scammers paint a too-good-to-be true picture wherein investors can double or triple their money in a very short term. However, once the money is sent, the scammers are never to be seen again.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
