Fraud warning after £ 1 million in cryptocurrency scams

The police warned Kent’s inhabitants to be vigilant about fraud, after nine people lost a million pounds combined in cryptocurrency scams.

The personal details of the victims were shared online after a data leak, said the Kent police, and their information was used to generate “fraud reports with fake action.”

Action fraud is the National Fraue Reporting Center and Cyber ​​crime in the UK.

Someone who claims to be a police officer contacted the victims and assured them that an investigation was launched, the force said.

Fake Officer told the victims “to expect a call from the Crypto wallet” and then they received a second call from a person who said I am a “security officer,” the police added.

It seems that this caller has requested the seed phrase of a 12 or 24-word phrase that allows users to manage a cryptocurrency wallet.

The fraudsters used this information to “rebuild the wallet”, steal funds and transfer them, so that they cannot be recovered, the police said.

Detective sergeant Darryll Paulson said: “I urge anyone to be contacted by someone who claims to be from a crypto host or police, not to give personal details.

“The scammers are becoming more and more computers in their ways to deceive their victims to lose a substantial amount of money and will often create emergency in the situation, such as telling them that they have to act now to stop the stealing of funds.

“Do not beware of reporting a scam, it only takes a second to be distracted and fall.”

If you are not sure that a appellant is an authentic security or police officer, then take their details and shut down, the police advised.

Wait at least five minutes for the call to be clear before contacting 101 or 999 in case of emergency, they said.

A call manipulator can check if the caller is authentic.