Easy Prey29 Mar 2023

Crypto Fraud and Recovery Scams with Nick Smart

We are all being targeted by imposters on social media, websites, and dating sites. Once a person has been scammed, your information can be added to a database where criminals can purchase your data and then offer you "recovery assistance" from that scam. Today's guest is Nick Smart. Nick has 18 years experience as a professional Intelligence and Security Analyst working for government agencies and private companies as well as experience as a compliance officer.

Show Notes:

[0:57] - Nick describes his current role and his background in security.
[1:41] - Nick admits that he is generally very pessimistic and initially wasn't drawn to the crypto industry.
[2:55] - Why does crypto have a high reputation for fraud?
[4:15] - Once you are scammed, your information can be sold to more criminals and then you will be targeted again.
[6:52] - It is very easy to believe that you would get the money back if you act fast which is falling victim to a sense of urgency.
[8:01] - For some people, losing out on a few hundred dollars doesn't impact them much, but for others it could be the money they need to feed their family.
[10:18] - When something goes wrong, people look to those in authority for help, but law enforcement is catching up to how they can deal with the problem.
[12:29] - The laws surrounding crypto currency are very new and we don't know the future of recovery scams.
[13:43] - Nick explains "hackers for hire".
[15:13] - These scams aren't much different than others, but the way they find targets is unique.
[18:23] - Some people think crypto currency is completely anonymous. But that's not entirely correct.
[21:05] - The area of conversion is where we can try to find someone responsible for money laundering.
[22:29] - The block chains are useful in following and piecing together to find someone.
[24:35] - Crypto currency is hyper transparent which is not necessarily a bad thing.
[26:30] - KYC stands for Know Your Customer and Nick explains what that means to a financial institution.
[28:37] - If you've lost money through a crash or a scam and someone approaches you claiming they can help you get your money back, be skeptical.
[31:39] - Real asset recovery is not a fast process.
[35:13] - Individual cases and the experiences vary, but for the most part, block chains want to help.
[37:42] - It happens to the best of us. No one is immune.
[39:22] - There are more costs than just monetary.
[42:24] - It doesn't help the victim to stigmatize being scammed.
[44:01] - Nick shares ways to report crypto fraud.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.

Links and Resources:

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(329)

Job Recruiter Scams

Job hunting is hard enough without having to stop and ask whether the recruiter in your inbox is even real. My guest today, Jay Jones, ran into that problem firsthand after being laid off in December ...

24 Jun 35min

Bail Bonds Scams

Getting a call that someone you love has been arrested is scary enough. Getting that call from someone who sounds official, knows just enough to seem credible, and says you have to send money right aw...

17 Jun 36min

Confessions of a Fraudster

Technology keeps changing, but many of the most effective scams still come down to something very human: trust. My guest today is Tony Sales, co-founder of We Fight Fincrime and Underworld TV. Tony ha...

10 Jun 54min

Personal Safety

Scams and safety threats don't always announce themselves. Sometimes they start quietly, with a moment of distraction, a strange feeling you ignore, or a situation that shifts just enough to test whet...

3 Jun 43min

Data For Sale

Everyday conveniences ask for tiny pieces of information all the time like a phone number at checkout, a zip code at the register, an email address for a receipt, or a loyalty account for a small disc...

27 Mai 43min

Exploiting Psychology

Scams are often explained as a failure of judgment, but the truth is far more human. People are not fooled because they are foolish. They are manipulated at the exact moment emotion overrides logic, w...

20 Mai 45min

Investment Traps

Investment losses can be confusing because they do not always tell the whole story. Sometimes money is lost because the market has changed. Other times, an investor was sold something they did not und...

13 Mai 47min

Elder Exploitation

Aging parents often rely on the people closest to them for help, but what happens when that help becomes a way to take control? For Charles Wallace, the warning signs started small. His mother's fridg...

6 Mai 39min