FBI Publishes Statement Warning Crypto Community of Impersonation Scams

• FBI issues warning on crypto impersonation scams
• Scammers sometimes pretend to work for a known exchange and convince users to release sensitive details

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned crypto community members about a rising impersonation scam. According to a statement from the FBI, there is now a trend of scammers pretending to be legit crypto exchange staff to exploit unsuspecting customers. 

The need for increased caution among crypto users is increasing as the industry expands and developers issue more cryptocurrencies. Many crypto private sales offer users the opportunity to buy digital assets at low prices and enjoy a potential spike as the sales continue, as well as even larger profits when the token is finally listed publicly. Some of these tokens are available on multiple blockchains and offer perks, including low transaction fees, high scalability, and impressive staking rewards. However, these opportunities in the crypto sector call for users to be cautious.

An official release from the FBI explains how the scam works. The scammer would begin by contacting the prospective victim through an unsolicited message or call, pretending to be an exchange employee. The person would then claim a security issue with the victim’s wallet while conveying some sense of urgency by pretending there have been attempts to compromise the account. 

As a means of resolution, the victim will be offered a link to provide login information for account protection or asked to provide sensitive details for the fake employee to help with account security. People who believe the scammer may give up these details and lose their crypto.

The FBI offers a few tips for users to protect themselves. According to the publication, users should ignore any call or message that indicates a problem with their wallet or account, even if it seems legitimate. Before engaging with the caller, users should contact the exchange through official phone numbers or emails. Also, users should not click any links, download files, or open any attachments without properly verifying their origins.

In April, the FBI issued a previous warning about unregistered crypto service providers, asking users to verify a company’s registration status before trading or doing business with them.

Authorities have repeatedly warned users to be careful in the crypto sector as the number of scams increases. Some of these scams are successful because frequent users, such as professional crypto players at crypto gambling platforms, may initiate many transactions without verifying each one.

Recently, FBI Denver warned about crypto token impersonation scams, in which criminals create digital assets that impersonate popular tokens like USDT. The agency also warned about address poisoning, a scam in which criminals use a fake address that resembles a legitimate one, hoping that the victim will not confirm each character of the alphanumeric address. Unsuspecting users sometimes send real tokens to fake addresses and permanently lose their funds. 

“For scams using impersonation tokens, criminals capitalize on victims not recognizing impersonation tokens and not taking the time to fully check cryptocurrency addresses in their wallet software prior to conducting a transaction.” 

According to the FBI’s warning, a user based in Colorado fell victim to a stablecoin investment scam and lost $2.1 million. Following an initial investment after an impersonation token scam, the victim was swindled again when notified their account was locked for “malicious arbitrage” and paid another $1.5 million as a fake fine.