The Belgian financial watchdog has reported the activities of a scammer who allegedly stole up to $ 12 million from investors in the country using fake advertisements.
Based on a warning issued by the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), they estimate that investors in Belgium have lost at least 10 million euros of about $ 11.8 million between May 2019 and September 2020 due to fraudulent platforms, including those dealing with currencies crypto.
In addition, the FSMA also reported that such platforms deceive victims by using fake advertisements on social media that display pictures of celebrities and direct them to provide information to suspects.
He added that the platform often uses very aggressive methods to convince the victim to invest in a much larger amount and try to convince them to let the suspect hack the victim's computer so that they can make certain payments.
For investors in Belgium, fraudulent methods include contacting the public over the phone after they have provided information and then offering to manage their assets and even promising multiple returns.
As such, the Belgian authorities have taken precautionary measures to address the problem. In February, the FSMA blacklisted more than 140 cryptocurrency-related fraud websites. In addition, the FPS estimates that investors in Belgium typically lose around $ 152 million as a result of such fraudulent activity each year, with most incidents not reported.
