#CryptoFraud

Cryptocurrency, Romance & Investment Fraud Schemes

An increasingly prevalent form of online fraud has emerged to wreak havoc in the financial lives of everyday investors, whose introduction to cryptocurrency comes in the form of an elaborate romance scam.

These frauds escalated during the pandemic, while people were socially isolated and prices of Bitcoin, Ether and many other coins and tokens were hitting all-time highs. Cryptocurrency became the top payment method for romance scams in 2021 in terms of total dollar losses, with an explosive +2500% increase over the prior two years, according to the FTC.

The massive scale of this problem is often underreported – partly due to the reluctance of victims to notify authorities – but complaints submitted to Hudson Intelligence and cryptocurrency industry analysts credibly convey the loss of billions of dollars worldwide.