Attorney General Jeff Landry Warns Consumers Of Cryptocurrency Scams

Shining a light on crypto fraudsters, Attorney General Jeff Landry is warning Louisiana residents to be vigilant of scams aimed at stealing cryptocurrency.

.“Swindlers know no bounds; and unfortunately, too many people have been conned by cryptocurrency scammers recently,” said Attorney General Landry. “From fraudulent government scams to romance scams and everything in between, these crypto thieves play on emotions to take advantage of consumers and investors.”Attorney General Landry offers the following to help Louisiana residents avoid crypto scams:

• No federal, state, or local government entity will contact you via telephone informing you of an arrest warrant and that – in order to have the warrant withdrawn – you need to send money via cryptocurrency to a wallet.
  • In these type of scams, the callers generally identify themselves as some form of law enforcement and advise how to convert U.S. currency, whether via cryptocurrency ATM or online platform, and send it to a cryptocurrency wallet.
  • If you receive a call like this, immediately hang up and contact your local law enforcement agency.
• No financial institution will contact you via telephone (or email) informing you that your account has been compromised and that – in order to preserve the money – you must remove all funds from associated credit cards, bank accounts, and savings accounts and deposit those monies into a cryptocurrency ATM or online platform.
  • In these types of scams, the callers provide a wallet address where the victims will send the cryptocurrency.
  • If you receive a call like this, do not provide any personal identifying information; immediately hang up and contact your financial institution using their official phone number to inquire about your accounts.

Attorney General Landry also dissuades people from sending cryptocurrency or other forms of electronic money transfer to someone they met online through social media or dating applications.“Even if their stories sound convincing, never send cryptocurrency to those met online without knowing their true identities,” added Attorney General Landry. “While law enforcement has occasionally been able to recover some victim funds, it is not the norm.”“Scammers are becoming better trained and use new methods to secret the stolen money, which generally ends up in a wallet hosted by an exchange overseas that does not comply with U.S. law enforcement,” concluded Attorney General Landry. “So I encourage everyone to take caution and safeguard their cryptocurrency like they do with traditional finances.”

Original source can be found here.