The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), the state’s financial regulatory body, has issued a warning to residents about the rise in cryptocurrency investment frauds being carried out on well-known social media platforms. On June 25, 74-year-old Naum Lantsman lost $340,000 of his life savings as a result of a cryptocurrency fraud run through Telegram and Instagram. The event was brought up by the DFR, which emphasized: “the need for Vermonters to exercise extreme caution and vigilance when using or investing in cryptocurrency.”
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has identified Instagram as the leading platform associated with cryptocurrency fraud, which also applies to Lantsman. His first interaction with the cryptocurrency fraudster was on Instagram, where he saw a post from SpireBit purporting to be an “international financial broker” dealing in cryptocurrencies.
The Vermont DFR attributes the rise in cryptocurrency frauds to con artists who create “more complex, personalized tactics” with many levels of deception
Lantsman opened an account on SpireBit without doing any analysis or research about the service. Over the course of many days, a Spirebit official contacted Lantsman via Telegram and pressured him to make investments. What began as a $500 investment ended up costing more than $340,000. When a user makes an investment on a phony platform like SpireBit, the dashboard displays profits on every trade, which tempts users to spend more of their savings. Lantsman was aware of cryptocurrency fraud in the past, but he never anticipated falling for one himself. The Vermont DFR attributes the rise in cryptocurrency frauds to con artists who create “more complex, personalized tactics” with many levels of deception.
Through alertness and background checks, it is possible to combat scammers’ constantly developing tactics, which range from falsifying bank documents and statements to striking up casual chats. To lessen financial harm and find thieves, Vermonters have been urged to report fraud quickly. Decentralized financial attacks are a “pretty significant issue,” according to Eun Young Choi, director of the U.S. Justice Department’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, given the development of North Korean “state-sponsored hackers.” Additionally, Choi repeated that the Justice Department is going after cryptocurrency companies that either engage in criminal activity or ignore it in order to “obscure the trail of transactions.”