US Federal Trade Commission Warns Consumers About Falling for Crypto ATM Scam

2 years ago

US Federal Trade Commission Warns Consumers About Falling for Cryptocurrency ATM Scam

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned consumers astir scams involving cryptocurrency ATMs. “There’s a caller rotation connected scammers asking radical to wage with cryptocurrency,” the FTC described.

FTC’s Warning About Scams Involving Cryptocurrency ATMs

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a scam alert involving cryptocurrency ATMs Monday. The user notice, posted by Cristina Miranda from the FTC’s part of user and concern education, states:

There’s a caller rotation connected scammers asking radical to wage with cryptocurrency.

“It involves an impersonator, a QR code, and a travel to a store (directed by a scammer connected the phone) to nonstop your wealth to them done a cryptocurrency ATM,” the announcement details.

The scammers mightiness telephone the victims pretending to beryllium from the government, instrumentality enforcement, oregon a section inferior company, the FTC noted. They could besides unreal to beryllium a romanticist involvement you met online oregon idiosyncratic calling to pass you that you’ve won a lottery. They volition enactment connected the telephone with you until they’ve got your money.

The FTC explained that the scammer volition “direct you to retreat wealth from your bank, investment, oregon status accounts.”

Next, they volition nonstop you to spell to a store with a cryptocurrency ATM and bargain cryptocurrency. Then they volition nonstop you a QR codification with their code embedded successful it.

“Once you bargain the cryptocurrency, they person you scan the codification truthful the wealth gets transferred to them. But past your wealth is gone,” the FTC stressed.

The bureau emphasized:

Nobody from the government, instrumentality enforcement, inferior company, oregon prize promoter volition ever archer you to wage them with cryptocurrency.

“If idiosyncratic does, it’s a scam, each time. Any unexpected tweet, text, email, call, oregon societal media connection — peculiarly from idiosyncratic you don’t cognize — asking you to wage them successful beforehand for something, including with cryptocurrency, is simply a scam,” the FTC warned.

What bash you deliberation astir scams involving cryptocurrency ATMs? Let america cognize successful the comments conception below.

Kevin Helms

A pupil of Austrian Economics, Kevin recovered Bitcoin successful 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests prevarication successful Bitcoin security, open-source systems, web effects and the intersection betwixt economics and cryptography.

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