Although cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, may seem to be new. I have been writing in Scamicide.com about cryptocurrency scams for four years. Cryptocurrencies are legitimate, but scammers are increasingly taking advantage of the public’s fascination with cryptocurrencies to take old forms of scams and update them with a cryptocurrency twist. The perception of many in the public that cryptocurrencies offer an easy path to riches coupled with many people violating the cardinal rule of investing by investing in schemes that they do not understand creates a perfect storm for cryptocurrency scams.
The latest cryptocurrency scam can be found on Facebook where a fake sponsored advertisement directs people to a phony CNBC news video that falsely states that Singapore has recently enacted legislation adopting a particular crytocurrency as its official coin. The video includes a bogus endorsement of the particular cryptocurrency by Sir Richard Branson in which Branson appears to say that investing in Singapore’s official cybercurrency will make people millionaires overnight. Phony endorsements are common in many cryptocurrency scams. Ultimately, victims of the scam are lured to cryptocurrency trading desks where the victims are prompted to provide personal information including credit card information. Once the victim provides this information, his or her credit card is used for fraudulent purchases and identity theft.
A good example of what another type of cryptocurrency scam looks like can be found by going to this website touting HoweyCoins.
https://www.howeycoins.com/index.html
The bad news is that while HoweyCoins may appear to provide a lucrative investment opportunity, there is no such thing as HoweyCoins. It is a scam. Fortunately, it is a scam website that was set up by the Securities and Exchange Commission to serve as a warning to unwary investors about the dangers of cryptocurrency scams.
TIPS
As I have mentioned many times previously, you should never invest in anything that you do not fully understand. You also should not invest in anything without investigating the people offering the investments. In addition, as always, if the investment sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Facebook for a time banned all advertisements promoting cryptocurrencies due to the plethora of cryptocurrency scams, but has reversed this position and now does accept ads for cryptocurrencies. Some of the things to be on the lookout for in regard to cryptocurrency scams are promises of high, guaranteed returns on your investment, false claims of being SEC compliant, allowing you to invest using your credit card and pump and dump scams. For more information about pump and dump scams related to cryptocurrencies, check out the Scam of the day for April 11, 2018.
In regard to this particular Facebook cryptocurrency scam, the URL of the supposed CNBC news website is not the URL of CNBC. As for the phony endorsement of Sir Richard Branson, a quick Google or other search engine search would indicate to you that he had not endorsed this cryptocurrency. In addition, you could also confirm in an online news search that the story about Singapore adopting an official cryptocurrency is false.
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