Crypto scams are an easy way for criminals to get money. They use various schemes to relieve people from their cryptos. The amounts of money lost to scammers are staggering. That’s why authorities and regulators try to warn the population about new fraudulent schemes.
New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority warned about crypto-related investment scams, which are targeting Pacific communities. New Zealand has large populations of Pacific Island ethnic groups. Liam Mason, the FMA’s director of regulation, stated that some scams had aimed specifically towards such groups.
Last year the FMA cautioned that Skyway Group may be involved in a scam and was targeting Pacific groups. But it seems the scammers managed to get the upper hand despite warnings. Mason declared that the OneCoin pyramid scheme is proliferating through Pacific social and community groups.
The regulators decided to issue radio ads that will play on popular Pacific radio stations in the Samoan and Tongan languages. They will also use bilingual webpages in addition to other resources to warn the population.
Meanwhile, Mason advises costumers to check the investment firms before trusting them with money. If the firms are legal, they will be on the online Financial Services Providers Register. The other option is the FMA’s Warnings webpage, which would also help identify scammer companies.
There are lots of other resources people can use for simple research, like Netsafe and the Scamwatch website. Joseph Liava’a, the associate commissioner at the Commerce Commission, also underlines the importance of checking out everything.
What kind of scams are the regulators warning about?
According to the Commerce Commission, criminals are using coronavirus-related scams along with various crypto-related frauds. Besides the social media bitcoin scams, found through fake celebrity endorsements and news articles, were the most widely reported.
The FMA stated that there had been a steady increase in complaints relating to a variety of different scams since March. It prompted the two regulators to launch an awareness campaign. They aim to help communities to avoid losing money to frauds.
