FBI warns of fake lawyers targeting past crypto scam victims

FBI investigators claim that a new worrying fraud tactic spread: crooks pretending to be lawyers are victims of cryptographic scams that contact cold, promising fundraising before flying even more. The diagram attacks despair with alarming sophistication.

In a alert Emitted on August 13, the Federal Bureau of Investigation American revealed an elaborate scam in which fraudsters pretend to be lawyers and law firms, specifically targeting victims who have already lost money because of cryptocurrency systems.

These false lawyers claim that they can recover stolen funds through legal channels, often citing manufactured government partnerships or fictitious agencies such as the “International Financial Trade Commission”.

The FBI said that the victims are under initial payment pressure, generally in cryptocurrency or prepaid gift cards, before being channeled in WhatsApp group discussions with supposed “banking processors” and other false officials. As the targets achieve cunning, their funds have long been over.

Red flags and guarantees

The FBI’s latest warning reveals that these false law firms use disturbing tactics to appear legitimate. A revealing panel is their use of authentic legal documents with a stolen header paper of real companies, combined with allegations of special partnerships with government agencies, an immediate red flag because no private law firm has such official designations.

What makes these scams particularly insidious is the level of research conducted on the victims. Frauders often experience precise details on the previous losses of their targets, including the exact stolen amounts, the transactions dates and even the names of the original scam operations.

This intimate knowledge disarms the victims, which makes false lawyers more credible. The regime generally intensifies when the victims are responsible for registering accounts on what seems to be foreign banks, with professional websites which are in fact sophisticated facades designed to raise more funds.

FBI’s defense game book

Law application experts recommend that they call a “zero trust” approach when they deal with unlined recovery offers. This means automatically treat all unexpected contact with skepticism until proven the opposite.

The FBI stresses that any refusal to appear in front of the camera or to provide basic license information must be considered an immediate dealbreaker.

The FBI also advises to maintain detailed recordings of all interactions, in particular by recording correspondence by e-mail and recording video calls when possible. This documentation could be invaluable for investigators.