आईसीटी समाचार
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States has issued a warning to cybercriminals who use Bitcoin ATMs and QR codes to deceive unwary people. In a recent Public Service Announcement (PSA), the FBI stated that it has seen an uptick in fraudsters instructing victims to complete financial transactions via physical bitcoin ATMs and digital QR codes.
"Such schemes include online impersonation schemes (in which a scammer impersonates a known entity such as the government, law enforcement, a legal office, or a utility company), romance schemes (in which a scammer establishes an online relationship with a victim by creating a false sense of intimacy and dependency), and lottery schemes (in which a scammer falsely convinces a victim that they have won an award and then demands payment of lottery fees)," according to the PSA.
The fraudster then sends the victim to an actual cryptocurrency ATM where they may deposit money, acquire bitcoin, and auto-fill the recipient address using the QR code given. The fraudster frequently communicates with the victim through the internet and gives step-by-step instructions until the payment is made. The agency also noted that the decentralized structure of bitcoin makes it harder to retrieve the victim's finances, with much of the stolen money being transported overseas immediately rather than being traced and validated by a bank.
"This is in contrast to typical bank transfers or wires, which might leave a payment transaction outstanding for one to two days before being settled. It can also make law enforcement's recovery of cash more difficult, resulting in financial losses for many victims." Meanwhile, according to research conducted by Dark Web Link in April, the overall value of crypto frauds in 2020 will be about $10.52 billion globally. Scams and frauds, according to the same research, are a huge concern, accounting for 67.8% of all bitcoin crimes in 2020.
