News
FBI warns of fake law firms targeting crypto scam victims
The FBI warns of cybercriminals posing as law firms and attorneys offering cryptocurrency recovery services to victims of investment scams and stealing funds and personal information.
THE last warning is an update to similar warning from the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) which warned of an increase in scams involving fake digital asset recovery services.
Pretending to be lawyers
The FBI says scammers deceive victims of the service’s legitimacy by claiming partnership with government agencies such as the FBI and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Furthermore, they build credibility by referring to real financial institutions and money exchanges in their communication with victims. This tactic gives a false sense of permission and ability to track and recover lost funds.
According to the FBI, some of the most common claims made by scammers include:
- Require victims to provide personal or banking information to get their money back.
- Require victims to declare the amount of the judgment they are seeking from the initial scammer.
- Require victims to pay a portion of the costs upfront, with the balance due once the funds are recovered.
- Direct victims to repay taxes and other expenses to recover their funds.
The phenomenon has increased in recent times, with IC3 statistics showing that victims of secondary cryptocurrency recovery scams paid over $9 million to scammers between February 2023 and February 2024.
Recovery of lost digital assets
State-level authorities and federal intelligence agencies can, under certain circumstances, track stolen cryptocurrencies, freeze them, and possibly divert them to secure wallets for redistribution to victims.
However, these services are free and victims are not proactively contacted to request they provide additional personal information or pay fees.
It is important to note that no private sector entity is authorized to issue seizure orders, so anyone making such claims on social media, in internet advertisements and in comments is likely a scammer looking for new victims.
Whenever people encounter claims about the ability to recover stolen cryptocurrencies, they should thoroughly research the company online before sharing personal information or sending payments.
If you have fallen victim to scams or suspect that you have been contacted by scammers, we recommend that you do so submit a report to the IC3 portalincluding as many details as possible about the scammer and financial transaction information.