This has become the most common type of scam in 2021 for a number of reasons. According to Action Fraud, more than £146 million has been lost in 2021 alone.
Cryptocurrency values have boomed meaning most people have heard of someone who made a lot of money on Bitcoin. They are also attractive for scammers as once they have your cryptocurrency they can make it disappear much more easily than they can through the banking system. They know it might be more difficult in this situation to get a bank transfer refund.
How does the scam work?
You will either find them online through an advert and fill in a form on their website, or they will contact you out of the blue, usually through social media or via the telephone.
The scammers will explain that they can make you profit through investing, even if you don’t have any knowledge of cryptocurrency. Sometimes they will promise you that you can’t lose money due to a system they are applying.
Here is the key; they will normally ask you to set up your own cryptocurrency wallet at a recognised merchant, or they will ask for control of your device where they can set it up for you.
Once they convince you to send money from your bank account to your new wallet, you will be told to transfer it into cryptocurrency and then send it to the ‘investment’, which is actually an account controlled by the scammer. Once you have sent the funds onwards, the fraudsters show you the deposit in their own trading platform. Unknown to you, that trading platform is a fake that the scammers can manipulate!
You will be quickly shown that you have made a lot of money, and will be told to deposit more funds in order to make larger profits. In reality, they are inputting fake returns into the platform to trick you into thinking your investment has been extremely successful.
Once you decide to withdraw your returns, you will be told that you can’t do this until you pay upfront taxes and/or fees that can’t be taken from your ‘winnings’. This is the scammers last throw of the dice to try and steal more of your money.
Find out more on our dedicated Investment Scams page.
How do I avoid being scammed with a fake investment?
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If someone asks you to set up a wallet in order to send them your cryptocurrency, they are probably trying to trick you
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Never send your cryptocurrency to an account controlled by someone else
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This is a highly volatile investment, so nobody can guarantee you returns
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Only a fraudster would ask for control of your device
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If you’re asked to pay taxes or fees that can’t be taken from your returns, you are probably being scammed.
Impersonation scams are extremely common. Here, the scammer calls you or sends you an SMS pretending to be your bank. Sometimes they call or text from the official phone number of your bank (this is known as number ‘spoofing’ and is quite easy to do).
You will receive a message or a phone call, usually telling you that your account is under threat and your funds are at risk. Often, you will be told of transactions that you don’t recognise as a way of making you panic.
The next step is that you will be told the only way to stop all the funds leaving your account, is to send it to a new ‘safe account’. No such thing exists; if you hear this hang up immediately as it is a scam.
How do I stop an impersonation scam from happening?
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Never trust contact from your institution that tells you to urgently move money
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Remember that scammers can contact you from the bank’s phone number
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If you’re being asked to send money from your account to a ‘safe account’, hang up
Purchase scams are on the rise. Whenever an item is new and/or desirable, there is a scammer trying to trick people into buying one that does not exist.
A common purchase scam that we see at Y3llowl4bs is fake cars posted on popular auction websites. When you enquire about the item, you are directed to purchase it through a third party, such as the seller’s own website and never the auction site itself. They provide realistic looking pictures and the history of the car is likely to check out.
You won’t be able to view the car, however you will always be given an excuse why you can’t see it in person. This is a giant warning sign that you should not ignore.
You will be asked to make payment via bank transfer, not via card. The reason is because the scammers know if they take payment via card, you might be able to do a chargeback that grabs the funds back.
You will be given a ‘delivery date’ for the car that gives them just enough time to take the money you sent them via bank transfer and withdraw it or send it elsewhere.When it is time for delivery of the car, it doesn’t arrive.
How can I prevent a purchase scam?
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Pay for items through the platform you found them. If you find a car on eBay for example, be suspicious of anyone asking for payment away from eBay’s protections
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Use a credit card for large purchases as it comes with the extra protection of s.75 of the Consumer Credit Act
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View the item in person before sending funds
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Do a reverse image search of the items pictures to see if they’ve been used before
If you’ve lost money to a scam, Y3llowl4bs may be able to help you get your money back from your bank. Y3llowl4bs can manage your case for you, as an FCA regulated claims management company. If you’d like us to do this for you, start the process by filling out our scam refund claim form. Our fee is 15% plus VAT on anything that we get back, and we don’t charge anything if we are not successful. For larger cases, the fee is subject to a maximum of £10k plus VAT per case. Find out more about our fees here.
Remember you don’t need to use a company like Y3llowl4bs, you could work your case yourself for free! If you’d like to get a refund yourself, you can do this by following our bank transfer refund guide.
