A fraud victim who invested more than $168,000 in a cryptocurrency scam last fall got most of it back, but that's an unusual result, Winnipeg police say.
Police received a report in October 2022 that a person had lost 5,806 bitcoins, valued at the time at more than $168,000, in a cryptocurrency investment scam, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a press release Wednesday.
The victim of the scam had been instructed to buy bitcoins for three months.
The Winnipeg Police Cyber โโInvestigative Team discovered that, without the individual's knowledge, the invested bitcoin was transferred abroad and converted from bitcoin to tether, another type of cryptocurrency.
Police recovered $155,000 in crypto assets and returned it to the victim.
"Police use certain techniques to track crypto assets as they move," Const. Dani McKinnon of the public information office said in an email on Wednesday.
"In some cases, timely tracking of crypto assets can identify opportunities for law enforcement intervention."
fraud prevention month
The press release, sent out on the first day of Fraud Prevention Month, said that cryptocurrency investments are difficult to trace and it is often impossible to recover funds lost in scams.
Cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency that is not issued or controlled by a central bank. Since cryptocurrency works as a digital payment system that does not rely on financial institutions such as banks for transactions, this makes transactions more difficult to trace.
While specific data on the movement of funds can be tracked, identifying the owners can be difficult, making it even more difficult to recover the funds invested in a cryptocurrency scam.
The latest annual report from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center says that fraud associated with cybercrime is increasing rapidly, even among the youngest Canadians.
Between 2016 and 2020, cybercrime, including cryptocurrency theft, increased by 370%, according to the province of Manitoba.
The Canadian Fraud Center recommends that people always make sure they are investing with a reputable entity before making any financial transactions.
To prevent fraud, it is always recommended to verify the legitimacy of websites, companies or individuals, especially when it comes to cryptocurrency transactions.
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