The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Baltimore office issued a press release on Tuesday addressing the rising threat of cryptocurrency investment fraud in Maryland. Known as “pig butchering,” this form of fraud involves scammers persuading victims to invest heavily in what turn out to be fake cryptocurrency opportunities.

Victims often lose their entire investments, with criminal actors, usually based overseas, gaining control of the funds. Between January and August 2024, Maryland residents reported almost $54.5 million in losses from these scams, according to FBI data. The agency noted that in 2023, 668 Marylanders lost $69.1 million to similar schemes.

FBI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno stressed the importance of caution, saying:

Bottom line: never trust someone you haven’t met who claims to be an expert and can help you make money through a can’t-miss investment opportunity.

He added that these scams affect a wide range of individuals, stating:

We are seeing victims in their 20s and 30s all the way up to our senior citizens who are absolutely devastated by these schemes.

To help the public avoid these scams, the FBI recommends not sharing financial or personal information with unknown individuals, verifying investment opportunities, and reporting any incidents to the FBI Baltimore field office or the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。