A story that we placed in the Sunday Times about the prevalence of crypto scams featured heavily in the newspaper’s Money section
As part of our mission statement, National Fraud Helpline highlights scam issues and campaigns for better safeguards to protect the public and businesses from falling victim to fraud.
In this story we helped to highlight how four out of ten frauds that we encounter involve crypto scams.
Our figures matched newly published data by Action Fraud.
National Fraud Helpline’s senior partner Martin Richardson spoke to the newspaper about our concerns that a lack of regulation on crypto was a gift to scammers.
Mr Richardson said: “The use of cryptocurrency in scams is rife. It’s making it too easy for fraudsters to disappear with scam victims’ money without trace.
“It’s a lot easier to recover money for fraud victims when crypto isn’t involved, which is why the fraudsters have latched on to it.”
We revealed how 81 of National Fraud Helpline’s 200 most recent cases involved scammers being sent money via crypto platforms or digital wallets.
As part of the article the Sunday Times also spoke to one of our client’s who had fallen victim to a crypto scam.
The client told in detail the devestating effect that the fraud had had on his life.
Mr Richardson went on to warn how fraudsters are also posing as “blockchain retrieval companies”, offering to recover lost money to victims for a fee.
“We had one client who lost over £200,000 on a crypto investment scam. Then while he was dealing with us, he lost another £40,000 to one of these companies,” Mr Richardson explained.
Read the full article here: How crypto became a must-have for fraudsters
Have you lost money to a crypto scam or any other sort of fraud? Contact National Fraud Helpline to help recover your money. Call 0333 0033218 or fill out our Claim Form.