\n<\/p>\n
InvestigateTV – When Samuel Woody downloaded an app on his phone for business, he never thought he\u2019d be a victim of a scam.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I was trying to do was just do a good thing by helping my church,\u201d said Samuel Woody.<\/p>\n
Just one day after downloading the app, Woody said he got a call from a third party claiming his account had been hacked. Caught off guard by the call, Woody said he quickly gave the unknown man his personal information.<\/p>\n
What he didn\u2019t realize was that he was turning critical financial information over to fraudsters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI panicked, na\u00efve to what was going on,\u201d Woody said.<\/p>\n
He said the man then convinced him to withdraw $3,800 from two credit union accounts and convert that money into cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/b>I got a receipt back and the whole time the manager was telling me I was going to get my money back and I never did,\u201d Woody said.<\/p>\n
He eventually learned he wasn\u2019t speaking with a manager at all, he had been scammed. Woody said he then filed complaints with law enforcement, the Better Business Bureau, and federal agencies to try to get his money back. He said while he managed to recover a portion of the funds, it wasn\u2019t nearly enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really upset, you know, these guys need to be caught because they can do other people like that,\u201d said Woody.<\/p>\n
Woody is not alone. According to the National Consumers League, 2021 was a banner year for scammers. Losses to fraud hit a 10-year high and cryptocurrency-related deals were one of the fastest-growing scams.<\/p>\n
\u201cCryptocurrency is in many ways the holy grail of payment methods if you\u2019re a scammer,\u201d said John Breyault.<\/p>\n
Breyault heads up Fraud.org<\/a> at the National Consumers League. He said scammers prefer cryptocurrency because it\u2019s immediate and not reversible.<\/p>\n Breyault said the NCL wants to strengthen regulations on financial apps and cryptocurrency exchanges to stop fraud.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re really reaching a tipping point where regulators here in Washington are starting to wake up to the fact that these new technologies sound great, but fraudsters know how to use them too and it\u2019s costing American consumers billions of dollars,\u201d Breyault said. \u201cSomething needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only are scammers using cryptocurrency as payment in traditional phishing scams, some also pose as brokers to persuade you to invest.<\/p>\n Experts we spoke with said to protect your money, search online for the company and cryptocurrency name to make sure it\u2019s legit before investing and be careful of guarantees and big promises.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a victim of a cryptocurrency investment scam, report it to the Federal Trade Commission, the Attorney General\u2019s office, and the Better Business Bureau. Your case could result in legal action. To find a complete list of the top ten scams reported to the National Consumer\u2019s League in 2021, go to Fraud.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n