Richland County Sheriff Clay Porter wants to update the community on the increase in cryptocurrency type scams. Cryptocurrency is defined as digital and/or virtual currency with the records being maintained by a decentralized system such as but not limited to Bitcoin and Ethereum. These types of scams have a wide variety of schemes, but can include blackmail, extortion, business opportunities, fake job listings, giveaways, impersonation, investments, phishing, and romance (this includes dating applications). Things to look for in spotting a scam are if it seems too good to be true, “pay to play” jobs, promises of guaranteed investment returns, and unexpected email-phone- texts.
How to report Cryptocurrency Scams:
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) at https://www.cftc.gov/complaint
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov
- Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at https://www.ic3.gov/
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at https://www.sec.gov/tcr
This is not to scare the public from in participating in investing into cryptocurrency, but simply to educate and protect those that are less familiar with cryptocurrency from the scams that are occurring everywhere.