The FBI issued an urgent warning regarding the rapidly increasing number of people being conned by a cryptocurrency scam called ICHcoin. Victims have reported across the United States that the scam has cost them their life savings.
According to an abc13 report, the plan was a complicated fraud aimed at unsuspecting individuals, utilizing a promise of cryptocurrency investment education.
Amanda Culver with FBI Houston said the scam has been running since December 2023 and that scammers had taken in $30 million by October 2024. She said some victims lost all their life savings to the fraudulent scheme. “People are very interested in investing in cryptocurrency.” Culver said, warning that “we are seeing an increased attractiveness because people want to invest their money into cryptocurrency.”
How does the ICHCoin Scam operate?
Social media is one of the first stages of a scam that employs Facebook and Instagram as platforms. The first approach scammers use is to pretend to offer a cryptocurrency investment crash course. When victims show an interest, they are taken off Social Media and redirected to a Messaging application such as WhatsApp, where they are contacted by a supposed ‘professor’ or ‘teacher’ who takes them a little further into the scam.
The victims are brought to the ‘Excellence and Innovation Fortune Business School,’ the name of nothing but the front of the fraudulent ICHCoin company. Previous warnings from the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions warn that victims become groups controlled by fake academics purportedly sending daily trading signals and investment tips with the promise of huge returns. The scam ends with the victims being encouraged to put their money into the fake crypto trading platform called the ICHCoin app.
Culver said the victims are often told to lie to banks, which runs to the fraudulent platforms via these means. The app apparently tricks its victims into investing more by displaying fake profit data to keep them coming back, but when the victims try to cash out, their accounts are frozen, or the scammers simply disappear.
FBI Calls for Victims to Come Forward
Culver highlighted the need to know red flags as the FBI continues its investigation into the scam, including unsolicited, ‘free money ‘-type messages that promise quick profits. These, she warned, are clear signals that there may be a scam. If someone may be a victim of ICHCoin or something similar, the agency has asked them to come forward by filling out an online questionnaire that will help with the investigation.
The ICHCoin case is part of the FBI’s crackdown on cryptocurrency-related scams. The agency has gotten pretty serious about crypto fraud over the last few months, with at least one warning per month since September. The FBI warned businesses that deal in cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) about the rise of the North Korean hacking group Lazarus, which has developed sophisticated tactics for infiltrating financial systems.
The FBI figures show that over $5.6 billion has been lost in crypto-related frauds and scams, with those over 60 being the most often targeted victims. The bureau also charged an individual with trying to extort cryptocurrency assets in early October.
Scams like ICHCoin are becoming rampant with cryptocurrency’s rising popularity, emphasizing the need for investors to stay alert and be protected against fraudsters. The FBI is still working to determine how much was stolen and bring the perpetrators to justice.
