NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday announced that she filed a lawsuit to freeze $2.2 million in cryptocurrency and to recover the stolen funds after scammers posing as remote job recruiters tricked New Yorkers into depositing hundreds of thousands of dollars into fraudulent cryptocurrency accounts.
An investigation by the Attorney General's office found that scammers were sending text messages about fake online job offers to trick people into buying stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency, and depositing them into the scammers’ digital wallets. The scammers told victims who responded to the text messages that the jobs required them to review products online to help generate “market data” that would lead to sales.
Victims were told to open accounts on licensed cryptocurrency platforms to earn money after reviewing products. They were assured they weren’t actually buying the products but that the account balances would make the data seem “legitimate.” They were promised they’d get their money back, plus a commission. They were also told to create and link a crypto wallet to receive their payments.
James is now trying to recover the frozen cryptocurrency for defrauded victims and require the scammers to pay penalties, restitution, and damages and permanently stop them from advertising or sending unsolicited text messages in New York.
“Deceiving New Yorkers looking to take on remote work and earn money to support their families is cruel and unacceptable,” James said. “Scammers sent text messages to New Yorkers promising them good-paying, flexible jobs only to trick them into purchasing cryptocurrency and then stealing it from them. The cryptocurrency that has been frozen thanks to my office will be available to help New Yorkers defrauded by this scam.”
A New Yorker lost over $100,000 in a scam after receiving a text about a remote job with "flexible requirements" and a promised bonus. A scammer, pretending to be a trainer, helped the victim set up a cryptocurrency wallet on LBank and connect it to a fake “working account.” The victim was tricked into buying and transferring stablecoins for fake product reviews. Instead, the money went directly to the scammers’ wallets.
When victims tried to pull out their money, the scammers then invented fees such as a “credit score improvement fee” or a “blockchain verification fee” or an “escrow fee” that required the victims to put in more cryptocurrency but never allowed them to withdraw anything, according to the investigation.
James encourages New Yorkers who believe they are a victim of a text message scam involving fake remote work job opportunities to file an online complaint with her office.