Is Bitcoin a safe situation? Please be aware!

 

With internet and online chat rooms mushrooming everywhere over the years, advance fee scam or 419 scam as it is called with name being derived from Nigerian Penal Code section that covers this crime, has claimed more and more victims of financial fraud. 

Earlier scammers demanded money but with the existence of Cryptocurrency, scammers are preferring to demand that as cryptocurrency transactions are difficult to track. Bitcoin is most popular cyrptocurrency. With curiosity and craze surrounding Bitcoin, today more scammers are luring victims by talking about Bitcoin trading after developing a rapport with them via friendly or romantic conversations.  

The time that scammers spent then and now to chat with victims is an investment whose return would be victim losing money to scammer if he/she blindly believes what the scammer says. They request small amount via money transfer. If they can arouse the compassion of a victim with a sob story, many times they also succeed to convince victim to donate generously to some online entity which might be an offshoot of scammers. The common factors of every case is money stuck in overseas bank account, requirement of fee to either pay the lawyer/ bank or to get some mortgaged property released, and the promise of considerable amount of money or a fairytale wedding. It is common to say that claim to the amount in bank account can be laid only after paying a fee that scammer wishes victim to pay. 

Some scammer say that they are taking services of lawyer on credit and if payment is not made now, then lawyer would not represent them in court. If scammer in a romance scam agrees to come to the country of victim and meet him, the meeting never happens, usually with scammer saying that he/she could not board flight as his/her parent fall sick and he/she needs money to pay for treatment. Some scammers say that they can come to meet victim only after paying off loan. 

Some scammers lure victims by saying that they supplement income via Bitcoin trading and can make victim rich in a short period of time. They also say stuff like small investment bringing big returns. They may say that Bitcoin trading might bring so much money that victim would able to pay off all his/her loans including student loans in one go. Scammers also have videos of people claiming to have benefitted from Bitcointrading. Once the victim becomes interested, scammer strongly insists that victim uses the trading website or trading software recommended by scammer for trading. The website is poorly maintained if the scammer is a rookie in the business of conning. But sophisticated scammer have websites that look genuine. 

If scammer asks victim to download a lesser-known Bitcointrading software on computer or app in smartphone, it is possible that scammer himself may have developed the software which might be a malicious virus to hack computer/phone in order to extract the credit card information of the victim. 

The solution to these problems that people should do their own research before indulging in Bitcoin trading. The decision to donate to an international foundation should not be taken in a heartbeat. People should remember that if they lose money to oversees scammers in fraudulent money transfer, the recovery of lost money can never be possible, no matter how good lawyer they find. If one has loan, one should repay it with the money he/she has earned through legitimate means.