NY DA to Recover $2.2 Million in Cryptocurrency from Scammers
Date: 2025-01-13 Author: Henry Casey Categories: IN WORLD
The scammers used a scheme based on deception, offering people jobs with high salaries and flexible hours. These “employers” promised to pay job seekers a commission for reviewing products that supposedly helped generate market data. However, to participate in the program, victims had to open accounts on cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase and Crypto.com and buy stablecoins, including USDC and USDT. The scammers claimed that these steps were necessary to make the transactions legitimate and that the invested funds would be returned with a commission. As a result, the victims transferred the cryptocurrency to addresses controlled by the scammers.
In order to build trust among victims, the scammers used fake websites that mimicked the interfaces of real cryptocurrency exchanges. When people tried to withdraw their funds, they were required to pay additional fees to “increase their credit rating” or to confirm verification on the blockchain, which led to additional losses. One of the victims was a New York resident who lost more than $100,000.
After the addresses where the stolen funds were stored were identified, the New York prosecutor’s office, with the support of the US Secret Service and the Queens District Attorney’s Office, was able to track the cryptocurrencies. Tether, the company that issued the USDT stablecoin, agreed to assist in the investigation. Since the cryptocurrencies were frozen, they can be returned to the victims after receiving the appropriate court approval.
In addition, experts from Cado Security Labs recently reported a new threat - malware that scammers are distributing among job seekers in the Web3 field. This software helps scammers steal personal data and cryptocurrency from users.
