FBI warns crypto fraud on LinkedIn is a ‘significant threat’
If you have a tendency to talk to people you don’t know on LinkedIn, you may want to take extra care. According to a CNBC report, the company has acknowledged a “recent uptick of fraud on its platform,” and this time the scams involve persuading users to make investments in cryptocurrency. It’s been deemed as a “significant threat” by Sean Ragan, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the San Francisco and Sacramento field offices in California, who spoke to the outlet.
CNBC said the schemes typically began with someone pretending to be a professional and reaching out to LinkedIn users. They would engage in small talk, offering to help users make money through crypto investments. First, they would tell their targets to go to an actual crypto investment platform, but “after gaining their trust over several months, tells them to move the investment to a site controlled by the fraudster.” Thereafter, the money is “drained from the account.”
According to victims interviewed by CNBC, the fact that they trusted LinkedIn as a platform for networking lent credibility to the investment offers.
Ragan told CNBC that “the FBI has seen an increase in this particular investment fraud,” which the outlet …read more
