OP Yesterday - 04:26 AM
source : http://brooklynda.org/2024/12/06/brookly...er-135000/
The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office has announced a major operation targeting non-fungible token fraud.
Law enforcement has shut down more than 40 domains linked to a scheme that extorted funds from artists in exchange for promises to release NFTs.
In one case, an elderly man gave away his retirement savings in order to digitize paintings and sell them as an NFT collection.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said that the Virtual Currency Unit (VCU) conducted an operation against NFT scammers. As a result, law enforcement officers blocked more than 40 domains that were used for fraudulent purposes.
The investigation began after an elderly man lost $135,000 due to a scheme targeting artists. The criminals pretended to be art dealers on the OpenSea platform and offered the “client” to digitize his work.
The fraudsters convinced the victim that he could make good money on his NFT collection. Subsequently, the scammers said that they successfully sold the tokens and the man earned $300,000. However, to receive the funds, the artist must pay a commission, the authors of the scheme said.
The victim believed the scammers' words and withdrew his pension savings, and also took out a loan to pay the invoice issued by the scammers. As a result, the man lost all his money, never receiving the promised $300,000. The
85-year-old artist's children contacted the police, after which VCU launched an investigation. As a result, they tracked down the criminals' domains and blocked them. At the same time, they have not yet been able to find the alleged creators of the scheme or return the stolen funds, law enforcement officials noted.
“Cryptocurrency scams can take many forms, but they share similar characteristics, such as preying on vulnerable victims and demanding a ransom payment for the supposed proceeds. These are the tactics used in this case, which led our investigators to a network of fraudulent websites that specifically targeted artists,” Gonzalez said.
The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office has announced a major operation targeting non-fungible token fraud.
Law enforcement has shut down more than 40 domains linked to a scheme that extorted funds from artists in exchange for promises to release NFTs.
In one case, an elderly man gave away his retirement savings in order to digitize paintings and sell them as an NFT collection.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said that the Virtual Currency Unit (VCU) conducted an operation against NFT scammers. As a result, law enforcement officers blocked more than 40 domains that were used for fraudulent purposes.
The investigation began after an elderly man lost $135,000 due to a scheme targeting artists. The criminals pretended to be art dealers on the OpenSea platform and offered the “client” to digitize his work.
The fraudsters convinced the victim that he could make good money on his NFT collection. Subsequently, the scammers said that they successfully sold the tokens and the man earned $300,000. However, to receive the funds, the artist must pay a commission, the authors of the scheme said.
The victim believed the scammers' words and withdrew his pension savings, and also took out a loan to pay the invoice issued by the scammers. As a result, the man lost all his money, never receiving the promised $300,000. The
85-year-old artist's children contacted the police, after which VCU launched an investigation. As a result, they tracked down the criminals' domains and blocked them. At the same time, they have not yet been able to find the alleged creators of the scheme or return the stolen funds, law enforcement officials noted.
“Cryptocurrency scams can take many forms, but they share similar characteristics, such as preying on vulnerable victims and demanding a ransom payment for the supposed proceeds. These are the tactics used in this case, which led our investigators to a network of fraudulent websites that specifically targeted artists,” Gonzalez said.
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