Video Transcript

Why is it important to report to the FBI and ic3.gov if you’re the victim of a scam?

Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle: The FBI is trying to protect the American public from frauds and scams. It is important for victims–if you think you are a victim of fraud–for you to report these to ic.gov, the Internet Crime Complaint Center. When we have people reporting being victims–we have victims reporting their losses–it allows us to look at the trends, the typologies, to match up the type of criminals that we see out there.

It allows us to share with the public through public service announcements what we see and allows us to share with financial institutions the trends that we see so the financial institutions can educate their customers. Reporting being a victim of crime is very important for us to protect the American public and take the next steps of investigating the perpetrators of these crimes in private, and try to bring them to justice.

How significant are cryptocurrency scams?

Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle: We see approximately 3,200 complaints per month filed with ic3.gov into cryptocurrency investment frauds. This type of fraud affects people in all walks of life, all socioeconomic groups, all demographics. But the majority of victims we see are between the ages of 30 and 60. Many of those people are comfortable with technology, and people are looking for the investment opportunity.

What is Operational Level Up?

Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle: Level Up is a proactive initiative started by the FBI a couple of years ago. We work with our partners at the United States Secret Service. What we do is we identify victims of cryptocurrency investment scams. We proactively reach out to those victims. We call them and we talk to them, and we tell them they are a victim of a scam.

Why is the FBI contacting victims of these cryptocurrency scams?

Supervisory Special Agent Julia MacBeth: Operation Level Up is truly innovative in the approach we're taking with this. Typically, the FBI takes a reactive stature towards these types of crimes, but this is the first proactive measure that we're taking to get in front of victims before they lose more money.

And not only are we saving people's money, but we're saving lives by doing this.

How do I know it’s really the FBI that’s contacting me?

Supervisory Special Agent Julia MacBeth: If the FBI identifies you as a possible victim in one of these scams, we will reach out to you, probably by email and phone call, and give you ways to verify our identity. The FBI will never ask you for money or to move your assets to a new account. We will never ask for your personal identifying information. We are only calling to give you advice, and to make it known that you may be losing money and to try to convince you to stop giving more money.

What are the warning signs that I’m getting scammed?

Supervisory Special Agent Julia MacBeth: Some of the warning signs I'd watch out for are unsolicited text messages or messages on social media apps, people that you've never spoken to before or a “wrong-number text,” as we call it. Anybody that becomes your friend and then slowly introduces the idea of investing in something that you may never have been interested in investing before. Generally, just don't invest in anything based on advice you received, somebody that you've solely met online. And really never send money to anybody that you have only met online and never in person.

What should I do if I believe I’m getting scammed?

Supervisory Special Agent Julia MacBeth: If you believe that you've been scammed in a crypto investment scam, first thing I would tell you to do is to take a beat. Pause. Think about it. Stop sending money to anybody that you've solely met online. Also, stop the communications. Then I would report it to ic3.gov and your financial institutions. And then find somebody to talk to about it. Find a family member and reach out to loved ones.

What do you hope Operation Level Up can do for victims?

Supervisory Special Agent Julia MacBeth: Through Operation Level Up, if we can stop somebody from just investing that little bit or catching them before they pay the final fees to get out of this scam. Then we may be making a big difference in their lives.