The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is warning citizens to be aware of new scam cryptocurrency job ads that are in circulation. On May 22, the FBI issued a warning that US citizens and individuals living or traveling abroad should be aware of false job Advertisements related to labor traffic.
According to the ad, victims were "forcibly seized, intimidated, and forced to commit an international cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme." The warning went on to say that the victims were primarily targeting Asia and offered a wide range of opportunities, including tech support, call center customer service and beauty salon technicians. However, upon arriving abroad, job seekers are “forced” to undertake cryptocurrency investment schemes.
The FBI has asked victims of such schemes to come forward and report the activity through an online portal. In recent years, the FBI has been involved in several cases involving cryptocurrency scams and crypto-related incidents.
Most recently, on May 1, the FBI's Detroit field office and the Ukrainian National Police “conducted a court-authorized coordinated activity” that resulted in the seizure and closure of nine digital currency exchange services. These domains, which are said to aid cybercriminals , include 24xbtc.com, 100btc.pro, pridechange.com, trust-exchange.org, and bitcoin24.exchange, among others. On April 30, crypto security and auditing firm CertiK released a summary of crypto exploits and scams for April l, showing $103.7 million in losses. The amount lost in April is equivalent to half of all cryptocurrencies exploited in 2023.
