FBI issue warnings concerning crypto scammers on LinkedIn

LAGOS (CoinChapter.com) — The use of social media platforms to perpetuate crypto-related scams seems to be growing as an agent of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) has issued a warning concerning crypto scammers on LinkedIn.

In detail, Sean Ragan an FBI special agent in charge of the San Francisco and Sacramento, California field offices gave the warning in an interview. He warned that a growing amount of crypto scammers are now using LinkedIn to carry out their fraudulent schemes.

Regan described these crypto scammers as a “significant threat”, noting that the bureau was working on clamping down on them. He said the FBI has seen an increase in crypto-related fraud and has covert investigations, which he couldn’t comment about.

The FBI agent further explained that these crypto scammers create fake profiles and message LinkedIn users. They gain their trust over time and ultimately offer to help them make money through fraudulent crypto investments. However, they exploit the unsuspecting user, draining the victim’s accounts.

This type of fraudulent activity is significant. They are always thinking about different ways to victimize people, victimize companies. And they spend their time doing their homework, defining their goals and their strategies, and the tools and tactics that they use.”

Ragan warned.

LinkedIn Deleted 32M Fake Accounts in 2021

Meanwhile, LinkedIn in a statement acknowledged that there has been a recent uptick in fraud on its platform. Oscar Rodriguez, LinkedIn’s director of trust, privacy, and equity, said LinkedIn was collaborating with government agencies to keep users safe.

“Our teams use technology like artificial intelligence paired with teams of experts to stop the vast majority of the content that violates these policies before it ever goes live –  96% of detected fake accounts and 99.1% of spam and scams are caught and removed by our automated defenses.”

Rodriguez said.

The Microsoft-owned social network also disclosed that it deleted about 32 million fake accounts last year alone. Notably, LinkedIn currently boasts of more than 830 million members in over 200 countries. Additionally, it indicated that its automated defenses caught 99.1% of spam and scams, a total of 70.8 million in 2021.

Additionally, the Global Anti-Scam Organization has traced most of the perpetrators to Southeast Asia.

Crypto Scammers Exploited Users Of More Than $1B This Year —Report

In a similar development, a new report found has found that crypto scammers have stolen more than $1 billion in the first quarter of this year.

According to a report carried out by Immunefi, investors have lost around $1.22 billion to hackers in Q1 of 2022. Notably, the figure already recorded this year is nearly eight times more than the $154 million lost in Q1 of 2021.

Mitchell Amador CEO and founder at Immunefi noted that crypto scammers will continue to increase as the DeFi industry grows. He noted that hackers are exploiting DeFi as opposed to 2021 when they used online fraud for most attacks.

“We should expect these types of [sophisticated] attacks to continue to increase, as more and more criminal organizations build DeFi-hacking skills in-house.”

Amador said.