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billingsmix.com
· 2025-12-08
Montana's Commissioner of Securities and Insurance warned of a precious metals scam in which fraudsters cold-call elderly victims, offering uncirculated gold coins at artificially low prices with promises of quick profits once the coins arrive from overseas. The scam uses high-pressure sales tactics and requests wire transfers to unknown accounts, while legitimate dealers offer verifiable credentials, physical addresses, and ample time for decision-making rather than urgent cold calls. Consumers should verify company registration and licensing, be wary of unsolicited calls, and understand that commissions on precious metals sales can consume 35% or more of investment value.
justice.gov
· 2025-12-08
U.S. Justice Department and law enforcement officials attended the United Kingdom's first Global Fraud Summit in March, joining over 200 leaders from 11 countries and international organizations to address global fraud threats. The U.S. delegation participated in discussions on law enforcement collaboration, coordinated with international partners to enhance intelligence sharing and disrupt fraud networks at the source, and held bilateral meetings with Singapore and UK officials to strengthen transnational fraud-fighting efforts.
justice.gov
· 2025-12-08
Bethany Olmsted, a 43-year-old controller in Kokomo, Indiana, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud for stealing $413,531 from her employer and five investment companies between November 2018 and September 2021. Olmsted wrote approximately 520 fraudulent checks to herself and falsely categorized them as payments to legitimate vendors while transferring funds between accounts to conceal the thefts; she used the stolen money for personal expenses including spa treatments, jewelry, and high-end dining. The court ordered her to pay full restitution of $413,531.98 and serve 2 years of supervised release
thetimes.co.uk
· 2025-12-08
**Summary:**
Maria Woodhouse, a 34-year-old job seeker, lost £2,655 to a recruitment scam after being contacted via WhatsApp by a fake recruiter offering remote work for £13 per hour. The scammer created a false job using a cryptocurrency platform (OKX) as a payment method, tricking Woodhouse into depositing money for each "task" while the scammer redirected her funds out of the wallet. Recruitment scams are the third most commonly reported fraud type, with cases rising 156% year-over-year and averaging £3,000 in losses per victim.
lokmattimes.com
· 2025-12-08
A 48-year-old man in Navi Mumbai lost Rs 1.36 crore to a share trading scam between January and March 2024, after fraudsters lured him via WhatsApp with promises of high returns and instructed him to transfer money to various bank accounts. The Mumbai Police Cyber Cell registered a complaint under cheating and IT Act sections against two individuals and the organization "Angel One," though the investigation remains ongoing with no arrests made as of the report date.
the-sun.com
· 2025-12-08
Princo Oduro, a 34-year-old former Chase bank employee from Ohio, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for operating multiple fraud schemes that defrauded victims of $1.8 million. Using stolen personal information from at least five Chase customers, Oduro ran romance scams—posing as a soldier, medical patient, or precious metals dealer—and laundered stolen funds through PayPal accounts, including targeting a widow by falsely claiming her deceased husband had stored valuable artwork. He has been ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution.
citizen.co.za
· 2025-12-08
Financial predators exploit vulnerable individuals by gaining their trust, then isolating them from friends and family before extracting money through romance scams, predatory lending, or identity theft. The three most common types are romantic predators who establish fake relationships to manipulate victims, predatory lenders who trap borrowers in debt cycles, and identity predators who steal personal information for fraud. To protect yourself, maintain strong relationships with trusted friends and family who can spot suspicious behavior, and immediately cut all communication if you suspect someone is a financial predator.
nbcmiami.com
· 2025-12-08
Tax season attracts scammers seeking to steal refunds through three common schemes: fraudulent tax returns using stolen personal information, phishing emails impersonating IRS agents (particularly targeting recent immigrants with deportation threats), and illegitimate tax relief companies charging high fees without delivering results. The IRS received 294,138 identity theft complaints last year, the second-highest on record, and taxpayers can protect themselves by filing early, never providing personal information to unsolicited IRS contacts, researching companies before hiring them, and monitoring their credit and tax records.
goldcountrymedia.com
· 2025-12-08
I cannot provide a summary of this content as it does not contain information about elder fraud, scams, or elder abuse. The text appears to be a website error message and notification about a news website's 70th season opener, which falls outside the scope of Elderus database content.
churchleaders.com
· 2025-12-08
**Fake Clergy Scams: Overview and Prevention**
Fake clergy scams involve individuals impersonating religious leaders to exploit victims' trust through solicited donations, requests for personal information, and fraudulent spiritual services, often targeting vulnerable people during moments of grief or spiritual seeking. Scammers use psychological manipulation tactics—including authority bias and in-group favoritism—to establish credibility through mimicked religious language, attire, and social media profiles, causing victims financial losses alongside profound emotional and spiritual trauma. Awareness of warning signs such as aggressive donation solicitation, reluctance to provide verifiable credentials, and inconsistent stories can help communities protect themselves from these deceptive practices that damage
financemagnates.com
· 2025-12-08
A joint survey by Finance Magnates and FXStreet of 631 traders found that over 60 percent of victims targeted by scammers on Telegram lost money, making it the platform where traders face the highest financial loss rates compared to Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and other social media. Telegram's features—including privacy, anonymity, ease of impersonation, lax content moderation, and planned payment system integration—make it particularly attractive to scammers targeting active trader communities, while experts recommend traders verify broker credentials through regulatory websites rather than relying solely on social media claims.
todayonline.com
· 2025-12-08
Police in the Philippines rescued 875 people from a human trafficking and online scam operation during a raid on March 14, with eight suspects arrested. The compound north of Manila, posing as an internet gaming company, forced victims into love scams, romance scams, and cryptocurrency schemes under threat of physical harm and by confiscating their passports, affecting Chinese nationals, Filipinos, Vietnamese, and citizens from other Southeast Asian countries. This operation reflects a broader problem across Southeast Asia where crime syndicates generate billions of dollars annually by coercing workers into predatory online scams.
localprofile.com
· 2025-12-08
Plano Police Detective Vidmar was honored for his role in recovering over $8 million in stolen funds from victims of sweetheart scams, business email compromises, and other fraudulent crimes through his work with the U.S. Secret Service North Texas Financial Crimes Task Force. Working with Judge Ben Smith, Vidmar secured nearly 70 expedited search and seizure warrants targeting fraudulent bank accounts in Plano, Texas, which allowed authorities to freeze assets before criminals could withdraw stolen money. The collaborative effort successfully returned 99.8% of the recovered funds to victims across the United States and Canada over a 3.5-year period.
wltx.com
· 2025-12-08
A New York Magazine financial columnist lost $50,000 to an elaborate con scheme, prompting the Federal Trade Commission to publicize ten common lies fraudsters use to manipulate victims into sending money, including creating false urgency, isolating victims from trusted advisors, making arrest threats, and directing victims to move funds via gift cards, cryptocurrency, precious metals, or cash transfers. The FTC warns that any pressure to act quickly, secrecy, threats of legal consequences, or instructions from strangers regarding financial transfers are reliable indicators of fraud, and recommends victims hang up, delete communications, and report suspected scams to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
goldrushcam.com
· 2025-12-08
Two suspects were arrested in Moorpark, California on March 7, 2024, for identity theft and conspiracy charges after intercepting packages containing significant sums of cash mailed by elderly victims from Texas, South Dakota, and Florida who had fallen victim to scams. Detectives identified the scheme after the first victim's adult child reported their elderly mother had mailed currency to the suspects' address, leading investigators to surveil and apprehend the two men when they arrived to retrieve a third package from a Florida victim. The suspects face multiple felony charges including grand theft, conspiracy, theft by false pretenses, and identity theft from an elder or dependent adult.
glasgowcourier.com
· 2025-12-08
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen warned residents during National Consumer Protection Week (March 3-9) about three rising scams: law enforcement impersonation scams where fraudsters call claiming victims have arrest warrants and demand immediate payment via wire transfer or gift cards; cryptocurrency investment scams that use threats of arrest to convince people to deposit money into crypto ATMs, which cannot be recovered; and tech support scams involving fake pop-up alerts that trick users into calling scammers who then take control of computers and demand payment. The state's Office of Consumer Protection advises Montanans to avoid third-party payment apps and cryptocurrency ATMs, verify business information, and consult trusted contacts before sending money.
arabianbusiness.com
· 2025-12-08
"Pig butchering" romance scams, where criminals build fake romantic relationships to defraud victims of money and cryptocurrency, have surged 85-fold in revenue since 2020, generating approximately $75 billion in illicit gains with victims losing roughly $1 billion to related approval phishing scams since May 2021. These scams exploit loneliness by using messaging apps and social media to establish trust before directing victims toward fraudulent investment schemes, while a single scam address stole an estimated $44.3 million and a U.S. bank CEO lost $47 million to such a scam. The scam ecosystem is compounded by a humanitarian crisis, as many
businessjournaldaily.com
· 2025-12-08
In 2023, fraud losses nationwide reached a record $10 billion (a 14% increase from 2022), with Ohio residents alone losing over $154 million to scammers. Scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, using artificial intelligence and psychological manipulation, with common tactics including imposter schemes (posing as government agencies, banks, or family members), romance-crypto scam hybrids, and employment scams; cryptocurrency investment scams averaged losses of over $3,000 per victim, while employment scams affected young adults (ages 18-44) with average losses of $2,000. Consumers can report suspected fraud to the FTC online or by calling 877-382
straitstimes.com
· 2025-12-08
On March 14, Philippine police rescued 875 people from a sprawling scam operation in Bamban, north of Manila, after acting on a tip from a Vietnamese escapee; the compound, disguised as an internet gaming company, employed victims of human trafficking who were forced to conduct love scams, cryptocurrency scams, and other schemes under threat of physical harm and with confiscated passports. Eight suspects were arrested on charges of illegal detention and human trafficking, and the rescued workers included 432 Chinese nationals, 371 Filipinos, 57 Vietnamese, and others from multiple countries. The operation reflects a regional crisis where scam centers across Southeast Asia have generated billions of dollars while exploiting
cnbc.com
· 2025-12-08
The Federal Trade Commission refunded $4.1 million to 27,584 consumers who were defrauded by student debt forgiveness scams operated by Mission Hills Federal and Federal Direct Group since 2014. The scammers charged illegal upfront fees, falsely promised to lower monthly payments or eliminate balances, and often intercepted consumers' loan payments after claiming to take over loan servicing. To protect themselves, borrowers should recognize red flags like urgency, unrealistic promises, and requests for personal information, and instead use legitimate free assistance programs such as income-driven repayment plans offered by the Department of Education.
justice.gov
· 2025-12-08
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston filed a civil forfeiture action to recover approximately $2.3 million in cryptocurrency from a "pig butchering" romance scam that defrauded a Massachusetts resident of over $400,000 in spring 2023. The seized cryptocurrency from two Binance accounts was traced to fraud affecting 37 victims across the United States, with the scammer using manipulative online tactics to build trust before luring the victim into fraudulent cryptocurrency investments.
pymnts.com
· 2025-12-08
Organized "pig butchering" scam operations in Southeast Asia force tens of thousands of trafficked individuals to conduct romance and cryptocurrency investment fraud targeting foreign nationals, with scammers building trust over weeks before stealing victims' money through fake investment websites and deepfake technology. Federal authorities seized nearly $9 million in one such scheme, and financial institutions are increasingly deploying AI and machine learning solutions to combat these evolving threats, with nearly 70% of large banks now using these technologies to detect fraud.
cbsnews.com
· 2025-12-08
The Federal Trade Commission identifies 10 common lies scammers use to defraud victims, including creating false urgency, isolating targets from trusted advisors, making arrest threats, and instructing victims to move money, buy gift cards or cryptocurrency, or withdraw cash. These tactics are increasingly sophisticated and sometimes aided by artificial intelligence, as exemplified by a recent $50,000 scam targeting a New York Magazine columnist. The FTC advises people to hang up, delete messages, and report suspicious contact to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
publicnewsservice.org
· 2025-12-08
According to a recent Federal Trade Commission report, older adults in North Carolina and across the country lost $1.6 billion to scammers in the past year, with nearly half of those losses attributable to bogus investment schemes. Common tactics include impersonation scams initiated through text messages and AI-based schemes, which scammers use to build false relationships before requesting money or investments. Experts recommend that seniors and their financial caregivers monitor accounts for suspicious activity, report suspected fraud to their financial institution and police, use strong password practices, and stay informed through resources like the FTC and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
newstalkkgvo.com
· 2025-12-08
Montana State Auditor and Commissioner of Insurance Troy Downing is conducting statewide educational tours to help elderly residents and caregivers recognize and avoid financial scams, which account for 70-75 percent of fraud cases investigated by his office. The tours highlight common scams targeting seniors, including schemes that pressure victims to pay quickly using gift cards or cryptocurrency, and are being held across multiple Montana communities to reach elderly populations, families, caregivers, and law enforcement.
arkansasbusiness.com
· 2025-12-08
This opinion piece discusses the surprising vulnerability of intelligent people to sophisticated scams, using examples including a New York magazine columnist who lost $50,000 in a fake government agency scam and a Kansas bank CEO with 30 years of experience who fell victim to a "pig butchering" investment fraud scheme. The author argues that rather than assuming we are too smart to be scammed, we should approach such threats with humility and vigilance, and ensure our intelligent loved ones are similarly prepared to recognize sophisticated cons.
au.news.yahoo.com
· 2025-12-08
Australian losses to social media scams tripled to $95 million in 2023, a 249% increase from 2020, with people aged 65 and over accounting for nearly one-third of all social media scam losses and experiencing a 57% increase from the previous quarter. Scammers primarily targeted older Australians through fake advertisements impersonating retailers, romance scams, and investment schemes, with over 16,000 victims reporting they never received ordered goods. While overall Australian scam losses reached $477 million in 2023, social media scams emerged as the fastest-growing fraud category particularly affecting elderly residents.
newsweek.com
· 2025-12-08
A Truecaller survey of 2,000 Americans found that Gen Z and millennials (ages 18-44) are three times more likely to fall victim to phone scams than Baby Boomers, with Americans losing $25 billion to phone scams in 2023 and scam victims losing an average of $450 each. Latino and Black Americans were twice as likely as white Americans to be scammed, and younger adults lost proportionally more money—three times the amount older adults lost—partly due to their higher risk-taking behavior with emerging technologies like cryptocurrency and their less developed skepticism about offers that seem too good to be true. Experts warn that advancing AI technology will enable
patch.com
· 2025-12-08
Syretta Scherer, 42, of Georgia was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for her role in a multi-state romance scam that defrauded seniors of at least $5.8 million. Scherer laundered approximately $1.1 million of the stolen funds by creating a fake company called Precise Carriers and opening multiple bank accounts to receive money that scammers had convinced victims to send under false pretenses such as medical emergencies. From February 2018 to November 2019, she structured deposits across multiple banks and recruited others to open accounts to further obscure the money trail.
keysnews.com
· 2025-12-08
Americans lost a record $10 billion to scams and fraud in 2023, a 14% increase from 2022, with investment scams causing the largest losses at $4.6 billion followed by imposter scams at $2.7 billion, according to FTC data from 2.6 million consumer complaints. Fraudsters increasingly used cryptocurrency and bank transfers, while imposter schemes targeting vulnerable populations through government and business impersonation saw significant growth, with Florida ranking among the top states for per capita fraud complaints at 1,563 per 100,000 residents.
fox7austin.com
· 2025-12-08
According to the Better Business Bureau's 2023 Scam Tracker Risk Report, investment scams (including cryptocurrency) were identified as the riskiest scam type, with over 80% of targets losing money and a median loss of $3,800. Employment-related scams ranked second and more than doubled from 2022, while online purchase scams dropped to third place despite representing roughly 40% of all reported scams. Young adults ages 18-24 reported the highest median dollar losses among all age groups for the second consecutive year.
bbc.com
· 2025-12-08
Scammers are impersonating legitimate recruitment companies by posting fake job advertisements on sites like Indeed.com and contacting job seekers via WhatsApp to steal personal information such as passports, bank details, and national insurance numbers. Multiple UK recruitment firms including 2i Recruit, Nolan Recruitment, and HR Heads reported being targeted, with 2i Recruit alone receiving calls from 25 victims; one victim, Bella Betterton (18), lost £3,000 to the scam. Reports of recruitment fraud to Action Fraud are rising, with scammers exploiting reputable job websites and damaging the reputations of the legitimate companies whose names they
wsmv.com
· 2025-12-08
In 2023, Americans lost $10 billion to scams, with imposter scams being the leading fraud category at $2.7 billion in reported losses, followed by social media scams ($1.4 billion) and investment scams (with median losses rising to $7,700). Tennessee ranked 16th nationally for fraud reports, with email being the scammers' primary contact method and bank transfers and cryptocurrency the most common payment methods exploited.
securityboulevard.com
· 2025-12-08
Romance and investment scams caused over $10 billion in reported losses in 2023, with 64,000 romance scams ($1.1 billion) and 108,000 investment scams ($4.6 billion), though actual losses are estimated at $10-80+ billion annually due to significant underreporting. Scammers use researched targeting and manipulation to build trust with victims through text messages, social media, and dating sites, increasingly leveraging generative AI to create convincing deepfakes and multilingual communications that enhance credibility. Effective prevention requires cross-industry coordination to identify and block scams at their initiation points, particularly on messaging platforms like Telegram an
justice.gov
· 2025-12-08
**Summary:**
Syretta Scherer, a 42-year-old Georgia woman, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison on March 7, 2024, for her role in a romance scam conspiracy that defrauded seniors across multiple states of at least $5.8 million. Scherer laundered approximately $1.1 million of the scheme's proceeds by creating a fake company called Precise Carriers, opening multiple bank accounts at different banks, and recruiting others to deposit victim funds that were primarily stolen from widows through online romance scams conducted via app-based communication platforms between February 2018 and November 2019.
pbn.com
· 2025-12-08
A Georgia woman, Syretta Scherer, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for her role in a romance scam that defrauded seniors across multiple states, including Rhode Island, of at least $5.8 million. Scherer laundered nearly $1.1 million of the stolen proceeds by creating a fake company called Precise Carriers and opening multiple bank accounts at different banks to receive victim funds, primarily from widows who were deceived into sending money for fabricated medical emergencies. Two co-conspirators, Sade Mills and Dominique Golden, also pleaded guilty or were sentenced in connection with the scheme.
khaleejtimes.com
· 2025-12-08
Multiple women in Dubai fell victim to romantic financial abuse and romance scams involving partners who systematically extracted money through various deceptive tactics. A Russian real estate agent lost approximately Dh150,000 over two years to an Arab boyfriend who imposed punitive "fines" for minor infractions; a British restaurateur lost Dh500,000 in a down payment to an Irish boyfriend who evicted her from an apartment; and a marketing director was defrauded of Dh30,000 by a man using a false identity. Financial abuse occurs in 99 percent of domestic violence cases globally, and the cases highlight how romance scams and economic coercion disproportionately
irs.gov
· 2025-12-08
Prince Oduro of Westerville was sentenced to 102 months in prison for wire fraud and money laundering schemes spanning multiple years, including stealing bank customer information while employed at JPMorgan Chase Bank and operating online romance scams that defrauded victims of over $1.8 million. Oduro continued committing romance fraud even after his initial arrest, causing an additional $709,500 in losses, and was ordered to pay approximately $1.8 million in restitution. Victims were deceived by elaborate stories involving medical emergencies, military service, overseas construction projects, and inherited assets, with one victim alone losing $390,300.
southeastiowaunion.com
· 2025-12-08
Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen conducted a statewide "Stop the Scammers" educational tour in Mt. Pleasant to inform older residents about common fraud schemes including romance scams, grandparent scams, investment scams, and pig butchering scams. Ommen emphasized that scammers exploit emotional vulnerabilities and target older Iowans by conducting personal research and creating deceptive relationships to extract thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The campaign aimed to educate residents so they could share protective information with family and friends to help prevent fraud victimization.
interpol.int
· 2025-12-08
INTERPOL's Global Financial Fraud Assessment reveals that organized crime groups are increasingly using AI, large language models, cryptocurrencies, and phishing-as-a-service models to conduct sophisticated fraud campaigns targeting vulnerable people worldwide at relatively low cost. Key fraud trends include investment fraud, romance baiting (which combines romance and investment schemes), advance payment fraud, and business email compromise, with human trafficking networks increasingly forced into call centers to execute these schemes. The report emphasizes the urgent need for international law enforcement cooperation, data sharing, and public-private partnerships to combat this escalating global threat; since 2022, INTERPOL's I-GRIP mechanism has helped intercept over $500 million in criminal proceeds
news.yahoo.com
· 2025-12-08
Violet Evelyn Alberts, a 96-year-old California widow, was murdered in May 2022 in a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated as part of a larger financial exploitation scheme. Pauline Macareno, who befriended the vulnerable elderly woman, engaged in elder abuse and fraud by forging documents to fraudulently acquire Alberts' property through a reverse mortgage scheme, then arranged her death to accelerate gaining control of her estate. Four suspects have been arrested and charged, with Macareno sentenced to six years in prison for fraud and the other three charged with murder and conspiracy to murder.
people.com
· 2025-12-08
In May 2022, 96-year-old Violet Alberts was found dead in her Montecito, California home and ruled a homicide by asphyxiation; authorities later determined her death was part of a murder-for-hire plot following financial fraud and elder abuse. Pauline Macareno was sentenced to six years in prison for forging documents and establishing fraudulent entities to gain control of Alberts' assets, while Henry Rostomyan and Ricardo Martin Del Campo were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the scheme.
lohud.com
· 2025-12-08
In 2023, the Hudson Valley region experienced over $2 million in losses from online purchase scams alone, where fraudsters used fake checks and refund requests, with over 1,000 cases reported. The region also faced nine other major scam types including employment scams ($692,389 lost), investment scams ($1.2 million lost), advance fee loan scams ($281,474 lost), and various imposter schemes targeting government agencies and healthcare programs, collectively affecting thousands of residents across the Hudson Valley, New York City, and Long Island.
wvlt.tv
· 2025-12-08
In 2023, Tennesseans lost $161 million to scammers, with tech support fraud, investment fraud, and business email compromise being the most prevalent schemes. The FBI reported this represented a significant increase from previous years, part of a nationwide trend where Americans lost $12 billion to fraud in 2023. Experts advise heightened vigilance, recommending that people verify company information independently and report suspected scams to the Better Business Bureau, FTC, or FBI.
siasat.com
· 2025-12-08
A 43-year-old man in Hyderabad lost Rs 89.35 lakh in an investment scam after receiving a WhatsApp link promising high returns through online stock trading and IPOs. The fraudsters created fake trading accounts showing substantial profits, which motivated the victim to continue investing, but he was unable to withdraw any funds and was pressured for additional payments under various pretexts. The victim released a public video warning others to avoid suspicious investment offers on messaging platforms.
nbcmontana.com
· 2025-12-08
Montana's Commissioner of Securities and Insurance is hosting 16 educational events across western Montana in March 2024 to help residents recognize and prevent investment scams. The initiative comes as consumers reported losses exceeding $4.6 billion to investment scams nationwide in 2023, making them the most commonly reported scam type in the United States. The free "Protecting the Big Sky" presentations target adults and seniors with information on detecting financial exploitation.
cryptodaily.co.uk
· 2025-12-08
In 2023, the United States experienced a 53% increase in cryptocurrency investment fraud, with losses jumping from $2.57 billion in 2022 to $3.94 billion—accounting for 86% of all investment fraud losses. Scammers primarily used romance scams (causing $374 million in losses) and phishing attacks (causing $295 million in losses) to trick victims into transferring cryptocurrency by promising high returns or building fake relationships, with the problem affecting investors globally.
thestarphoenix.com
· 2025-12-08
Saskatoon Police Service partnered with the Electronic Recycling Association to offer free secure destruction of electronics and confidential documents on March 14 as part of Fraud Prevention Month awareness efforts. The initiative comes as Canadian fraud losses reached $567 million in 2023, with investment scams, spear phishing, and romance scams causing the most financial damage, while fraud methods have evolved to include cryptocurrency schemes and sophisticated phishing techniques targeting both individuals and institutions.
boston25news.com
· 2025-12-08
A 96-year-old woman, Violet Evelyn Alberts, was murdered in Montecito, California in May 2022 as part of a murder-for-hire plot initiated by Pauline Macareno, who had been defrauding the victim using fraudulent real estate documents to access her house and money. Macareno was arrested in June 2022 and sentenced to six years in prison for elder abuse and fraud, while three accomplices (Harry Basmadjian, Henry Rostomyan, and Ricardo MartinDelCampo) were arrested in connection with the murder-for-hire scheme after Macareno decide
cointelegraph.com
· 2025-12-08
In 2023, cryptocurrency-related investment fraud caused $3.94 billion in losses in the United States—a 53% increase from 2022 and representing 86% of all investment fraud losses—with victims lured by promises of high returns. Common crypto scams include romance scams (which resulted in $374 million in stolen crypto) and phishing attacks (affecting over 324,000 users and causing $295 million in losses), with similar fraud trends occurring globally.