The FBI has identified potential ways individuals can recognize and deter Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud:
- If an unknown individual contacts you, do not release any financial or personal identifying information (PII) and do not send any money.
- Do not invest per the advice of someone you meet solely online.
- Verify the validity of any investment opportunity from strangers or long-lost contacts on social media websites.
- Be on the lookout for domain names that impersonate legitimate financial institutions, especially cryptocurrency exchanges.
- Misspelled URLs, often with a slight deviation from the actual financial institutions’ website, may be fake.
- Do not download or use suspicious looking apps as a tool for investing unless you can verify the legitimacy of the app.
- If an investment opportunity sounds too good to be true, it likely is. Be cautious of get rich quick schemes.
- Confirm the validity of any investment opportunity or cryptocurrency investment website or app.
- If you already invested funds and believe you are a victim of a scheme, do not pay any additional fees or taxes to withdraw your money.
- Do not pay for services that claim to be able to recover lost funds.
If you have been victimized, file a report with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov.
Resource: https://www.fbi.gov/
