For a lucky few, the crypto boom of Dec2017/Jan2018 came so suddenly and many (even first time investors/traders) saw their crypto bags multiply 10x/20x/100x that they became instant millionaires. Naturally they thought themselves as titans in this industry, and saw it fit to become advisers, promising similar returns if people paid to follow them.
Many of those self proclaimed gurus, in fact, have little technical knowledge of the underlying technology of cryptos - blockchains, and are mostly paid by crypto projects themselves to shill the ICOs to secure investments from the herd, who will then be dumped on when tokens are unlocked.
Next a dishonest group of fraudsters found ways to scam unsuspecting people, while at the same time remaining largely anonymous.
They feed on the desperation and greed of the average people who felt they missed the crypto hype train, by creating online advertisements that promise huge one sided returns in crypto investments, often using celebrities and financial entrepreneurs as click bait.
the hype that surrounds cryptocurrency as an investment opportunity, the “get-rich-quick” mentality that often accompanies it, and the incredibly low cost of running such a scam, it is hardly surprising that there have been so many versions of it attempted
And this article highlights the scam that has been defrauding Dutch investors of $1.9 Million and counting.
What about other countries like USA, UK, China, etc, where these scams are also prevalent? How much is the actual figure that has been cheated globally?
Human greed is real. And the opportunity to make quick and easy money has been used, even in ancient times, to bait the uninformed.
True story. Even my mom told me about an advertisement of a local celebrity retiring due to investing in a trading platform. That was just a month ago!
So for those who are in the know, please spread the word and help clean up the crypto industry, even if it's one step at a time.