After being indicted for crypto fraud, a total of 17 websites have been taken down by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI). The primary reason behind the flag down was the engagement of fraudulent activities on California customers by these websites.
Before the flag down of these websites, warnings were previously issued to them on the 27th and 28th of December. The 17 websites mainly carried out crypto and brokerage activities illegally. Those who knew how to report crypto fraud cases alerted the appropriate authorities, which ended up shutting down the websites.
Immediately, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) issued a warning to those who engage in crypto and brokerage activities, asking them to be more careful to avoid falling victim to crypto fraud. A memo read, "The DFPI urges consumers to exercise extreme caution before responding to any solicitation offering investment or financial services. To check whether an investment or financial service provider is licensed in California."
Since the year started, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has been consistently notifying individuals of the need to avoid being scammed by fraudulent websites.
The Flagged Down Websites
To even make it easier for people to identify fraudulent websites, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) Madre the list public. It contained a lot of names, including those that were impersonating well-established crypto companies.
Some names taken down are Markets Limited, Trade 1960, Yong Ying Global Investment Company Limited, Tahoe Digital Exchange, TeleTrade Options, Uniswap LLC, Tony Alin Trading Firm, Hekamen Ltd./Tosal Markets Limited, Unison FX, VoyanX.com, ZC Exchange, and many others.
A closer look at this list showed that some flagged-down websites were impersonating reliable crypto websites, as in the case of Uniswap LLC.
The numerous indictments can only mean that there was any crypto fraud in 2022.
Moving forward, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) is also urging citizens to learn how to report crypto fraud on time.
How Crypto Frauds Occur
The organization behind the flag down of many illegal crypto websites has provided further insights on what people should expect from a fraudulent crypto website.
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) categorized the scams recorded into two, namely "pig-slaughtering scam" and "advanced fee scheme."
For "pig-slaughtering scams," those involved pose as the original owners of a crypto company on popular social media platforms such as Twitter. Unsuspecting users try to do business with them on their fraudulent websites and lose huge amounts of money. The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) estimates that the average Californian citizen has lost between $2,000 to $1 million to crypto scams.
The advance fee scheme is almost the same as the pig-slaughtering scams, but the only difference is that it is more advanced. Those involved in this type of scam make their victims believe they will make a profit when they invest in their company and take their money as huge withdrawal fees.