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Cryptocurrency Scams on the Rise in the UK – Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority

Reuters published a warning from Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority for investors on August 17th, informing them of an increase of cryptocurrency related scams which are leveraging celebrities and uptown London addresses to convince potential investors into buying into their scam.

Similar warnings came out of BFCA’s online channels, and now once again on the 17th of August. The reasons for reposting the warning are unclear, but following the FCA’s comment which suggests that scammed consumers or knowledgeable crypto enthusiasts have reported various websites that seem dodgy or have been under due-diligence efforts by individuals which have uncovered their scam.

The FCA explains for Reuters that they have followed through on these reports and have identified a large (but unspecified) number of cryptocurrency investment scams that promise high returns, which reminds me of BitConnect.

In the United Kingdom, cryptocurrencies are not regulated, not even Bitcoin or Ether, so it is completely understandable that some entities would strive to pretend to be a legitimate company operating from a City of London address, but most of these are fraudulent.

Crypto-news.net would like to suggest to our readers in the UK to make sure that they either call or visit the offices of would be companies before committing their savings i.e. earnings into what might as well be a scam.

These scams leverage social media and advertise using images of celebrities to promote their investment opportunities to the general public, with links that take the visitor to a particular website where they can participate with either fiat or crypto.

According to the authorities, these companies pretend to operate from the UK as a means to leverage credibility from the country and to showcase responsibility, but the reality is very different. Due to the unregulated status of cryptocurrencies, the authorities in the United Kingdom do not provide any support in the case of a scam, and victims of such scams are unlikely to get their money back.

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