US Victims Lost $9.3 Billion to Crypto-Enabled Scams
The FBI has released its 2024 Internet Crime Report. The report details how many complaints the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received, the amount of money American citizens lost, the age ranges of those who fell for internet scams, the types of scams, and much more. According to the report, cryptocurrency scams (such as those enabled by romance scams described above) appear to have been the most profitable scam from last year, as they resulted in over $9 billion lost. We definitely recommend taking a look if you’re interested in learning more.
The Bottom Line: In response to our last newsletter, we had several subscribers write in to describe their victimization by cryptocurrency investment scams. If you don’t already know someone who is a victim, you likely will soon. Practice due diligence when forming new online connections. Insist on video calls. Beware of niche investments with high returns.
Scam Centers Growing, Despite Massive International Effort
So, where does that 9.3 billion go? In South Asia, particularly Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, organized crime syndicates have built massive walled operations centers for executing scams. The workers in those facilities, sometimes numbering in the thousands, are often the victims of kidnapping or human trafficking, forced to work there and execute scams, particularly crypto investment scams enabled by false romantic connections, so-called “pig butchering.” Those scam centers are now a massive industry. China has led a series of efforts to disrupt the operations of these criminal enterprises, but the UN has a new report out warning that it is so far a losing battle: the scam centers are growing and spreading out to Africa and the Pacific islands.
The Bottom Line: As for the last two stories, be very careful about who you trust online. Use video calls to verify identities. Expect more and more innovative scamming strategies until these syndicates are dismantled.
USB Ports at Airports Are Probably Safe (But Keep Your Phone’s OS Up to Date)
Remember “juice jacking?” Juice jacking is an attack where hackers modify public charging stations, such as in malls or airports, to have the USB port infect your phone with malware when you plug it in. It made a big splash a few years ago, with lots of news coverage warning us not to use USB chargers at airports. The funny part is that there are no recorded incidents of juice jacking actually happening, then or now. Still, the potential for attacks can seem alarming, especially since the mitigations that Apple and Google installed have now been bypassed by researchers, who showed that juice jacking is extremely easy with modern devices. Thankfully, Apple and Google have both updated their respective operating systems to protect users from the new form of juice jacking.
The Bottom Line: Always keep your devices up to date. The iOS 18.4 update requires you to enter your passcode before any data transfer can take place, and fixes the new version of the attack. However, out-of-date iPhones and Android phones can both be juice-jacked now, so who knows, we might finally see a case of it actually happening!
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Classic Scams Still Work: County Clerk Loses Millions
Staff at the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana fell for a phishing email that requested a change to their banking information. The sheriff’s office, believing the email to be legitimate, complied with the request, resulting in over $1 million being stolen through wire transfers. According to the Louisiana Illuminator, the sheriff’s office has recovered almost $293,000, while there are currently no suspects behind the theft.
The Bottom Line: In this case, the email requesting a change of wire number came from inside the building. The scammers had compromised a county email account and used it to send a legitimate-looking email asking for the change. Multi-factor authentication on the email accounts would have prevented that account’s compromise, and robust verbal checks before making any changes to how money is moved would have prevented the theft.
The FBI Thinks You Should Use an Ad Blocker
A new warning from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center details what we’ve often described before: scammers take out ads on Google to make sure they control the top paid result, then anyone who clicks on the ad can be sent to a phishing page or directed to download malicious software. It’s not just promoted results in Google searches, either. Across the board, malicious advertising is a scourge. Read the warning here.
The Bottom Line: Our favorite adblocker is NextDNS, though it doesn’t play nicely with every VPN. Many VPN providers, such as NordVPN and SurfShark, have built-in adblockers. A stand-alone option would be Ghostery.
Wisconsin Couple Loses $80K to Crypto Investment Scam
In an example of exactly the sort of scam we were talking about for the first three stories of this week’s newsletter, a Wisconsin couple lost over $80,000 to a crypto investment scam. Scott Johansson says his wife invested $30,000 in cryptocurrency. At least, that’s what she was led to believe after finding out about the investment opportunity through Facebook. After just a few weeks, she was told her money had doubled, so she invested another $25,000, and paid another $30,000 after she was told she would need to pay taxes and fees to withdraw her earnings. Unfortunately, it was only afterward that she discovered the whole thing was a scam.
The Bottom Line: According to the FTC, $5.7 billion was lost to investment scams last year. If you come across an investment offer that seems too good to be true, you’re most likely looking at a scam. Be especially wary of cryptocurrency investments demonstrating high returns.
