Peterborough County OPP is seeing an increase in fraud complaints relating to crypto investment scams and are warning residents to avoid them.
Police say they’re seeing two specific variations of the scam involving social media platforms.
In some cases, the scam starts on a social media or dating website as a romance scam and quickly turns into an investment opportunity, according to police.
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Police state victims often lose larger sums of money because of the level of trust that’s gained by the suspect in this scenario and in some cases the suspect will compromise the victim’s friends’ social media accounts, so the victim thinks they’re communicating with a known friend.
The suspect will call the victim directly and convince them to invest in cryptocurrency and sometimes will ask the victim for remote access to the victim’s computer or will send an email to the victim offering a crypto investment opportunity.
The other scenario that’s circulating right now, according to police, is one where the victim clicks an ad on social media and then provides contact information.
The suspect will then contact the victim and convince them to invest.
Police say to watch for several warning signs including:
- Investment opportunities with higher-than-normal returns.
- Unsolicited telephone, email or social media investment offers.
- Displays of urgency so you don’t miss out.
- An individual met on a dating or social media website who quickly attempts to convince you to invest into crypto currency.
- A friend tells you…
