CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Daniel Booth calls it old tricks with a new look.
“Everything seems to be moving in that direction, that these are old crimes facilitated by cryptocurrency," Booth says.
Booth, a forensic accountant with the Norfolk Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shared that cryptocurrency scams are becoming a more prevalent issue across FBI field offices and that the Hampton Roads region of Virginia is no stranger to this trend.
The scams executed distinctly involve a combination of the finances of a person (or business), and its use toward trading exclusively digital forms of cryptocurrency, which have garnered more attention and public interest in recent years.
Booth warns of three of the most common cryptocurrency scams:
Ransomware
Based on relatively traditional forms of financial fraud, the scammers in these instances breach a businesses' security platforms and take hold of their systems in exchange for repayment. Only now, these payments can instead be used toward cryptocurrency.
“They’ll sell you a decryption key. But depending on the size of your business, you may be a hospital or law firm, they may get you for millions of dollars. You have the options of doing nothing and trying to restore everything or pay that ransom, and that ransom is in cryptocurrency," Booth says.
"Tech Support"
A similar cryptocurrency scam attacks individuals more so than businesses or organizations.
"A lot of times, if you're on a website there is a pop-up or it looks like an anti-virus software. Really you don't, or it's a website with an anti-virus warning, and it encourages you to dial a number, and it puts you in touch with a customer service representative. From there they encourage you to install certain software that gives them access to your computer because they explain they'll fix your computer. When you give them the remote access they'll scour that data for anything of value, for financial records to size you up, or they're looking for identifying documents. But eventually what it boils down to is: they've fixed the problem, they charge you for it but they "accidentally" charged you too much.
"Pig Butchering"
This form, Booth says, is prevalent and a frequent form of crypto scam for individuals in Hampton Roads.
In these scenarios, victims are enticed to invest their own money through a site that's created to look like a legitimate trading website. Except, the site is disconnected from any trading platform and is solely a platform for scammers to keep victims contributing money, thinking they're making financial gains on crypto-style investments.
“What’s key about these scams, they don’t ask for money. They’re never going to say 'give me money.' Instead, they recommend a very legitimate website or app and they’re going to say here is where I make my trades and where I make my money," Booth says.
“Let’s say it starts as a $1,000 investment, it looks legit. Like you can execute trades on it and it gives you feedback as if the trade occurred. Through the 'mentor' coaching you may make 10,000 dollars on a single trade," Booth said, adding that people can lose entire life savings in this method if they're not careful.
“I’m not sure on the exact numbers or if we [FBI] can even share the exact numbers, but I’ve run across several instances in this area that people are really affected by this.”
The red flags raised by Booth come one day after a public service announcement from the FBI, issuing a warning for cryptocurrency-related scams.
Those who believe they've fallen victim in these cases can submit their cases to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.