According to reports, the police in Paphos, a coastal city in Cyprus, are investigating a new online scam involving fraudsters who scammed a 66-year-old woman, collecting thousands of dollars from her.
A Typical Scammer’s Technique
The woman complained that she came across a genuine-looking website advertising the investment program in March and created an account. Shortly afterwards, a woman from the program contacted her via an online messaging app, encouraging her to make deposits to a particular bank account.
Following the initial deposit, which was considered an investment, the victim’s account on the website began to show profits. That is a typical pattern used by such programs to build trust and lure their victims into sending more money.
Encouraged by the returns, the woman increased her investment by sending another 4,245 euros in addition to the initial 250 euros used to open the account. However, things became complicated in late May after she attempted to withdraw funds from the account. The scammers compelled her to send more funds, which they described as tax fees on her investment earnings.
She trusted their instruction and sent 1,164 euros and 989 euros in separate transactions. Further requests from the scammers triggered the woman’s curiosity, causing her to suspect she had been scammed. According to her, she lost over 6,000 euros to the fraudsters in a case now being investigated by the Economic Crime Investigation Unit of the Paphos CID.
Related: Mohammed Nalapad, Son of Congress MLA Named in Bitcoin Scam Probe
Crypto Scams Are Becoming Rampant in Paphos
In a separate case, a 27-year-old woman, still in the same region of Paphos, has been allegedly scammed of 12,000 US dollars. According to the police, the woman claimed that unknown individuals she met in a social media group chat offered to help her resolve issues relating to crypto transactions. Meanwhile, they seized the opportunity to scam her.
The fraudsters offered to help her with her questions, but instead extorted her. She only realized it when she did not receive the agreed-upon funds in her bank account, prompting her to report the matter to the police.
These cases highlight the proliferation of crypto fraud in Paphos, a trend that is becoming more rampant within the region. Other cases cited in the region include an 89,816 euros extortion and another 6,500 euros scam targeting a 77-year-old woman.
In the meantime, the Police in the region say they are investigating all these cases.
Related: Cyprus Police Probe Two Crypto Scams After €75,000 Losses