Key takeaways:
- 17 cryptocurrency brokers and websites received warnings from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI).
- It is unusual for the DFPI to publish this many notifications at once.
Over the course of two days, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has issued 17 different warnings to cryptocurrency brokers and websites it believes to be deceptive.
The DFPI seldom releases so many notifications at once, suggesting that the number of allegations of cryptocurrency fraud may have surged in the latter half of the year. The DFPI often sends out sporadic alerts on corporate investigations or notices about specific incidents.
The DFPI noted that clients have claimed losses ranging from $2,000 to $1.2 million in some situations. The advisories were published in response to concerns from the general public regarding brokers and websites. In contrast, the DFPI only notes that these websites “does seem to be involved in fraud.”
To provide a few examples, the list includes Tahoe Computerized Trade, TeleTrade Choices, Tony Alin Exchanging Firm, Hekamenltd/Total Markets Restricted, Exchange 1960, Yong Ying Worldwide Speculation Organization Restricted, Harmony FX, VoyanX.com, and ZC Trade.
Additionally, eth-Wintermute.net and UniSwap LLC are operating like two well-known names in the cryptocurrency industry.
According to the brief summary provided for each case, DFPI received “a complaint from one California individual alleging a cryptocurrency investment.”
It’s important to note that typically, DFPI doesn’t provide such a sizable quantity of alerts against dishonest actors. As a result, it is reasonable to believe that there has been an increase in scams in California.
The DFPI’s consumer alert page now lists 17 alerts from the days of December 27 and 28 warning that these businesses “appear to be involved in fraud against California consumers.”
According to the California regulator, these businesses appear to be defrauding Californian consumers. There have been examples provided for the following transcription of DFPI’s warning regarding RB Hood as an illustration of such cryptographic techniques:
“At least one California individual has filed a complaint with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) about cryptocurrency investment.
The warnings were issued in response to complaints from locals who had issues with the representatives and sites. According to the DFPI, customers have reported losing anything from $2,000 to as much as $1.2 million in certain cases.
The DFPI simply states that these sites “seem, by all accounts, to have taken part in extortion” in its statement.
The DFPI advises customers to proceed with the utmost caution when responding to any solicitation providing financial or investing services.
The majority of these scams are “pig butchering scams,” in which a person or group creates a false online identity in order to forge relationships on social media or dating apps.
Once they have the perpetrator’s confidence, they use a fictional image of a real website to entice them with investment “options.”
