Consumer Alert
Bitcoin + online chain referral = illegal scheme
Ever get a chain letter in the mail or online? Then you know the drill — you send money to a person at the top of the list, then take their name off and add yours to the bottom before sending the letter to more people. If the letters keep going, you’re supposed to make money as your name moves up the list. In fact, most people are guaranteed to lose money.
Chain letters have been around for decades. Today’s twist: online chain referral schemes involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Litecoin.
Today the FTC announced a complaint against four people — Thomas Dluca, Louis Gatto, Eric Pinkston, and Scott Chandler — for promoting deceptive cryptocurrency schemes online. The schemes were promoted through websites, YouTube videos, blogs, and recorded conference calls telling people they could earn big bucks in a short time and achieve financial freedom.
Two of these schemes — Bitcoin Funding Team and My7Network — required people to use bitcoin or Litecoin to pay for the right to recruit others into the schemes and get paid recruitment rewards in cryptocurrency. There was no product or service to sell. People were told to pay in and recruit other people into the program. Supposedly, the more cryptocurrency people paid in, the more they would make. The FTC alleges that these programs were illegal chain referral schemes.
The third program — Jetcoin — claimed that people could invest bitcoin in the program and see it double within a short period of time, supposedly because there were cryptocurrency traders working behind the scenes. Jetcoin shut down after only a few weeks and participants lost their bitcoin investments.
Don’t be fooled by bitcoin buzz. Whether you’re asked to pay in dollars or cryptocurrency, promises of free money, mysterious financial models, and outsized returns most likely are scams. Learn more about what to watch out for with business and investment opportunities.
And if you see something like this, report it to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.
In reply to I got caught up in a scam by 1192 bunkie
In reply to I sent up an account in by gregroy20
You can report this to the FTC at FTC.gov/complaint and to the FBI's internet crime complaint center at ic3.gov.
In reply to You can report this to the by FTC Staff
In reply to Thanks again. Scams seem to by anon
Hello well its funny cause It's stupid .and crazy
In reply to Be leary of any crypto by Dnieder
You can help law enforcement by reporting problems to the FTC at FTC.gov/Complaint. The information you give goes into a secure database that law enforcement uses for investigations. The comments you put here on the blog don’t go into the law enforcement database.
I feel so sorry that some good innocent people are assaulted off their money that I feel forced to make a comment here: In order to save and keep your privacy, when going to do business on the internet, always consult with a family, friend or person who knows and been on using this thing, the internet, for long. Make sure you, the person interested in making "easy money", easy money is the word or way of thinking of getting something out of the reader, visitor or user in the internet. This internet criminals, know the psychology of the people who visit the internet, who are careless internet users and want "easy money" due to the manner those user think. Those criminals use that internet easy money psychology to cheat. Please, don't be, the internet "easy money", NAIVE.
In reply to I feel so sorry that some by From the desk …
There try to get money from me sending viruses from Facebook and Message your In my phonebook
I know of a Litecoin scam in Danbury Ct and would like to report it but want to keep this private is this possible? There are persons on facebook pushing it I could give you names, they tried to get me to join but I'm very sure its a Pyramid Scheme what do I do?
In reply to I know of a Litecoin scam in by Ms.Jones#1
You can report a scam to the FTC at FTC.gov/complaint. You can choose how much personal information to provide. The information you give will go into a secure database that the FTC and other law enforcement agencies use for investigations.
In reply to I know of a Litecoin scam in by Ms.Jones#1
You can report a scam to the FTC at FTC.gov/complaint. You can choose how much personal information to provide. The information you give will go into a secure database that the FTC and other law enforcement agencies use for investigations.
In reply to Is Forex Trading legal. by Ann
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has a bulletin about FOREX trading. "FOREX" stands for Foreign Currency Exchange. The SEC bulletin says Forex trading can be very risky and is not appropriate for all investors.
In reply to I submitted 383 pages of by gregroy20
You can report a scam to the FTC at www.FTC.gov/Complaint. The information you give goes into a secure database that the FTC and other law enforcement agencies use for investigations. The FTC does not investigate individual cases. You can contact your state Attorney General and local FBI office again, and the Attorney General in the state where the business operates. You might want to talk with the fraud department at the banks that you used for wire transfers.
In reply to Hi... Can you please suggest by Vipin
In reply to I was scam by this nice girl by Filomena
In reply to I was scam by this nice girl by Filomena
In reply to Did you ever get your money by Dolly