DETROIT – Bitcoin is the most common form of cryptocurrency on the market but there are many others to choose from and different exchanges to trade them.
Danielle and Chris Girt put $500 into what they thought was a Bitcoin investment on Facebook. It turned out to be a scam.
“In the beginning, everything was kind of lining up legitimate, that was initially. When we started to get really skeptical was when they requested more money in order to even get a withdrawal,” Danielle Girt said.
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Federal investigators said there has been a massive spike in cryptocurrency scams. Since October, nearly 7,000 people have reported losses of more than $80 million. The average loss was nearly $1,900.
IRS Special Agent Christopher Janczewski investigates cryptocurrency cyber crimes.
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“I think one of the easiest things people can get caught up with is that they’ve heard the stories of somebody being an early adopter to a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and then years later they are a multimillionaire. So there’s kind of this fear of missing out on the next wave,” Janczewski said.
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Janczewski said it’s important to research before putting in your cash.
“There are 1000s of different cryptocurrencies out there. Some legitimate, some not. And I think the kind of planning to get in early kind of causes people to not give as much thought as they would with maybe another type of investment,” Janczewski said.