THE FTC warned this week that a new crypto scam could be putting people’s investments and bank accounts at risk.
According to the agency, the scam, which they called a “new spin,” involves a fraudster, a QR code, and a trip to a cryptocurrency ATM.
Basically, the scam goes like this: A fraudster, who might be posing as a government official, law enforcement official, prize promoter, or local utility company official, will call an unsuspecting victim up.
Then the scammer will ask for some sort of payment from their victim’s bank, investments, or retirement accounts, before nudging them to a store with a cryptocurrency ATM.
Once the victim is there, the scammer will direct them to insert money into the ATM and buy cryptocurrency.
The fraudster will then send the victim a QR code with their address embedded in it, and once the victim buys the cryptocurrency and scans the code, the money immediately gets transferred to the scammer.
“Here’s the main thing to know: Nobody from the government, law enforcement, utility company, or prize promoter will ever tell you to pay them with cryptocurrency. If someone does, it’s a scam, every time,” said Cristina Miranda with the FTC’s division of consumer and business education in the statemen
The FTC added that any form of communication — be it via Tweet, text, call, email, or DM — that asks you to pay someone you don’t know in advance for something is a scam.
