- The FBI warned the public about fraudulent crypto ATMs and QR codes payments activities.
- The FBI gave this warning alert because of the rising crypto hack activities going on.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a fresh warning on fraudulent schemes that leverage fake crypto ATMs and QR codes payment services in the crypto industry.
Citing from the report, the FBI noticed how scammers continue to ask victims to use QR codes and physical crypto ATMs for payments. They do this mainly through constant online communication. Meanwhile, all their payment methods are fake and come with lots of fallacies.
As the FBI cautions the public to refrain from these malicious activities going on in the crypto sector, the authority stressed that the fake schemes usually involve an online impersonation scheme, romance schemes, lotteries, and several other things.
Nonetheless, the FBI asserted that these schemes and the methods for making transactions using crypto ATMs and QR codes seem quite similar. Due to how similar they look, the scammer confuses victims by requesting payment which sometimes directs them to withdraw money from their accounts being investment or retirement accounts.
Along the line, the hackers mostly give a QR code that is connected to their crypto wallet and direct the victim to walk in and purchase cryptocurrency at their preferred ATM with step-by-step guidance until the payment is done. Through this ill-gotten activity, the victim ends up being scammed.
To curb the increasing scammers’ activities, the FBI advised the public not to make payments to people they don’t know. Also, people should avoid taking instructions online to scan a QR code from someone they have not had a one-on-one encounter with and a lot more.