Cryptocurrency investment fraud, commonly described as "pig butchering," is one of the most prevalent and damaging fraud schemes today, impacting hundreds of Marylanders each year.

Scammers, through various means of manipulation, convince victims to deposit more and more money into financial “investments” using cryptocurrency. In truth, these investments are fake; all victim money is under the control of – and ultimately stolen by – criminal actors, usually overseas. As a result, victims typically lose all money they invested.

According to the FBI’s latest Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) data, there have been almost $54.5 million in losses to cryptocurrency investment scams in Maryland from January to August 2024 with 482 Marylanders reporting these crimes.

In 2023, 668 Marylanders reported losing $69.1 million dollars to IC3.

“Bottom line: never trust someone you haven’t met who claims to be an expert and can help you make money through a can’t-miss investment opportunity,” says FBI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno. “We are seeing victims in their 20s and 30s all the way up to our senior citizens who are absolutely devastated by these schemes.”

Tips to recognize and avoid this scam:

• If an unknown individual contacts you, do not release any financial or personal identifying information and do not send any money.
• Do not invest per the advice of someone you meet solely online.
• Verify the validity of any investment opportunity from strangers or long-lost contacts on social media websites.
• Be on the lookout for domain names that impersonate legitimate financial institutions, especially cryptocurrency exchanges.
• Misspelled URLs, often with a slight deviation from the actual financial institutions' website, may be fake.
• Do not download or use suspicious looking apps as a tool for investing unless you can verify the legitimacy of the app.
• If an investment opportunity sounds too good to be true, it likely is. Be cautious of get rich quick schemes.
• Confirm the validity of any investment opportunity or cryptocurrency investment website or app.
• If you already invested funds and believe you are a victim of a scheme, do not pay any additional fees or taxes to withdraw your money.
• Do not pay for services that claim to be able to recover lost funds.

If you or someone you know may be a victim of a cryptocurrency investment scam, immediately submit a report to ic3.gov or contact the FBI Baltimore field office and provide as much transaction information as possible. Transaction details include cryptocurrency addresses, amount and type of cryptocurrency, date and time, and transaction ID (hash)

For more information, visit https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/victim-services/national-crimes-and-victim-resources/cryptocurrency-investment-fraud.

To view the latest cryptocurrency fraud stats and trends, read the 2023 IC3 Cryptocurrency Fraud Report.