$34M lost due to crypto and forex scams within the last year in the UK

According to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K., investors lost over 34 million due to various crypto and forex scams since 2018, as reported by the Financial Times on May 20.

The data that the FCA has gathered comes acquired from the U.K. national fraud and cybercrime reporting center. The data shows that individual loss due to scams has actually decreased from $76,000 to $18,500 in the past year, total losses are also down, totalling $14 million for the past year.

WIth the dollar amount decreasing the number of reports have increased, almost three times over. These reports are totalling 1,834, ith 81% of the reports being crypto scam claims. Mark Steward, the FCA executive director spoke on how users can caution themselves against scams:

“Scammers can be very convincing so always do your own research into any firm you are considering investing with, to make sure that they are the real deal.”

According to the FCA, social media is one of the main outlets that scammers use to find their victims. They join social media posing as celebrities with fake endorsements, to seek out investors.