By David Molloy
Technology reporter

By Zoe Kleinman
Technology reporter

Scammers take advantage of people looking for romantic partners, often via dating websites, apps or social media by pretending to be prospective companions. They play on emotional triggers to get you to provide money, gifts or personal details.

How this scam works

Dating and romance scams often take place through online dating websites, but scammers may also use social media or email to make contact. They have even been known to telephone their victims as a first introduction. These scams are also known as ‘catfishing’.

Scammers typically create fake online profiles designed to  lure you in. They may use a fictional name, or falsely take on the identities of real, trusted people such as military personnel, aid workers or professionals working abroad.

Dating and romance scammers will express strong emotions for you in a relatively short period of time, and will suggest you move the relationship away from the website to a more private channel, such as phone, email or instant messaging. They often claim to be from Australia or another western country, but travelling or working overseas.

Scammers will go to great lengths to gain your interest and trust, such as showering you with loving words, sharing ‘personal information’ and even sending you gifts. They may take months to build what may feel like the romance of a lifetime and may even pretend to book flights to visit you, but never actually come.

Once they have gained your trust and your defences are down, they will ask you (either subtly or directly) for money, gifts or your banking/credit card details. They may also ask you to send pictures or videos of yourself, possibly of an intimate nature.

Often the scammer will pretend to need the money for some sort of personal emergency. For example, they may claim to have a severely ill family member who requires immediate medical attention such as an expensive operation, or they may claim financial hardship due to an unfortunate run of bad luck such as a failed business or mugging in the street.  The scammer may also claim they want to travel to visit you, but cannot afford it unless you are able to lend them money to cover flights or other travel expenses.

Sometimes the scammer will send you valuable items such as laptop computers and mobile phones, and ask you to resend them somewhere. They will invent some reason why they need you to send the goods but this is just a way for them to cover up their criminal activity.  Alternatively they may ask you to buy the goods yourself and send them somewhere. You might even be asked to accept money into your bank account and then transfer it to someone else.

Sometimes the scammer will tell you about a large amount of money or gold they need to transfer out of their country, and offer you a share of it. They will tell you they need your money to cover administrative fees or taxes.

Dating and romance scammers can also pose a risk to your personal safety as they are often part of international criminal networks. Scammers may attempt to lure their victims overseas, putting you in dangerous situations that can have tragic consequences.

Regardless of how you are scammed, you could end up losing a lot of money. Online dating and romance scams cheat Australians out of millions every year. The money you send to scammers is almost always impossible to recover and, in addition, you may feel long-lasting emotional betrayal at the hands of someone you thought loved you.

Warning signs

• You meet someone online and after just a few contacts they profess strong feelings for you, and ask to chat with you privately. If you met on a dating site they will try and move you away from the site and communicate via chat or email.
• Their profile on the internet dating website or their Facebook page is not consistent with what they tell you. For example, their profile picture looks different to their description of themselves, or they say they are university educated but their English is poor.
• After gaining your trust – often waiting weeks, months or even years – they tell you an elaborate story and ask for money, gifts or your bank account/credit card details.

• Their messages are often poorly written, vague and escalate quickly from introduction to love.

• If you don’t send money straight away, their messages and calls become more desperate, persistent or direct. If you do send money, they  continue to ask you to send more.
• They don’t keep their promises and always have an excuse for why they can't travel to meet you and why they always need more money.

Protect yourself

• Never send money to someone you haven’t met in person.

• Always consider the possibility that the approach may be a scam, particularly if the warning signs listed above appear. Try to remove the emotion from your decision making no matter how caring or persistent the ‘prospective partner’ is.
• Do an image search of your admirer to help determine if they really are who they say they are. You can use image search services such as Google or TinEye.
• Be alert to things like spelling and grammar mistakes, inconsistencies in their stories and others signs that it’s a scam like their camera never working if you want to Skype each other.
• Be cautious when sharing personal pictures or videos with prospective partners, especially if you’ve never met them before. Scammers are known to blackmail their targets using compromising material.
• If you agree to meet a prospective partner in person, tell family and friends where you are going. Scamwatch strongly recommends you do not travel overseas to meet someone you have never met before. Consider carefully the advice on www.smarttraveller.gov.au before making any plans.
• Be wary of requests for money. Never send money or give credit card details, online account details, or copies of important personal documents to anyone you don’t know or trust.
• Avoid any arrangement with a stranger that asks for up-front payment via money order, wire transfer, international funds transfer, pre-loaded card or electronic currency, like Bitcoin. It is rare to recover money sent this way.
• Do not agree to transfer money for someone else: money laundering is a criminal offence.
• Be very careful about how much personal information you share on social network sites. Scammers can use your information and pictures to create a fake identity or to target you with a scam.

Have you been scammed?

If you think you have been scammed, report it to the website, app, or social media site where the scammer first approached you. Let them know the scammer’s profile name and any other details that may help them to stop others being scammed.

If you think you have provided your account details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately.

We encourage you to report scams to the ACCC via the report a scam page. This helps us to warn people about current scams, monitor trends and disrupt scams where possible. Please include details of the scam contact you received, for example, email or screenshot.

We also provide guidance on protecting yourself from scams and where to get help.

Spread the word to your friends and family to protect them.

More information

Bill Gateshates it. Elon Muskloves it. Janet Yellenkind of, sort of likes it; but she definitely doesn’t want any of it. Jack Dorsey is obsessed with it. Mark Zuckerbergwants to copy it (what else is new). Snoop Dogg,Serena Williams, and Ashton Kutcher could potentially make a small fortune on it, as have some of the world’s nerdiest nerds. There are economists who predict it’s going to be worth $1 million one day, while others say that it will be worthless any day now. If you’d purchased just $1 worth of it in May 2010, that investment would be worth almost $5 million today. (When I did that math I uttered the same expletive you likely just did.) 

Yes, I’m talking about that insane, mind-boggling, gibberish-inducing phenomenon called Bitcoin.

If you’re wondering what on earth is going on with the world’s first cryptocurrency (or any of them for that matter), you’re not alone. Since the COVID pandemic began in early March, Bitcoin’s value has risen more than 1,000%, reaching an all-time high of almost $58,000 each this week, based on nothing more than market speculation, before taking it’s usual vertiginous fall, and dropping roughly $10,000 in the last few days based on little more than an Elon Musk tweet. But while a lot can happen during any decade—10 years ago today, the iPad hadn’t yet been invented and Donald Trump was still a washed-up reality-TV star instead of being a washed-up, twice-impeached president—the rise of crypto over the past 10 years has been one of the standout investment opportunities in human history, and yet, one of the most confusing and, perhaps, without merit since we started trading in Mesopotamian shekels. 

Part of the problem with the crypto segment of tech and finance is that most forms of cryptocurrencies only make sense to a small handful of people, and are barely comprehensible to most of us. Just look at the description for any of the new up-and-coming “coins” that have been recently released: “We are your go-to yield farm running on Binance Smart Chain and Pancakeswap exchange.” (Yes, exactly.) There is no question that the future of finance is going to be digital, whether it’s cryptocurrencies that are pegged to physical notes, like the U.S. dollar or the Japanese yen, or a global monetary asset, like gold or silver, there will come a time (in our lifetime) where it will be a norm to pay for things, in the real world and the ever-changing digital one, with some sort of crypto coins. It may be that we shop on Amazon with Amazoncoins, or buy a house with some form of digital assets—no one knows, yet—but what’s happening right now with the frenzy around buying crypto assets is largely a result of pandemic-era boredom, where people with expendable income (or gambling problems) have little else to spend their money on, and too much time to see that they might be missing out on a get-rich-quick scheme—PFOMO, pandemic-era fear of missing out? Add in a little GameStop-Reddit-style investing with crypto apps, like Coinbase, and voilà, you’ve got the frenzy currently taking place with Bitcoin and its ilk—though, let’s be honest here, crypto is a point of privilege in the midst of a global pandemic with rampant job loss and mile-long lines at foodbacks. For those more fortunate, crypto has become the go-to investment opportunity. “Right now, there’s no reason to buy fancy clothes, you can’t go on luxurious vacations, or dine at extravagant restaurants, so people are looking at places to put their money,” one Bitcoin retailer investor told me. “Seeing how much you can make on these investments can quickly become addictive, and next thing you know, you’re all in.” 

But while the potential return on investment can be staggering, so can the real losses. In December 2017, Bitcoin was riding high at close to $20,000 each, and then fell dramatically, and didn’t fully recover until December of last year. Now, crypto is going in the opposite direction, with the collective market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies being traded in the world today being worth over $1 trillion. But there’s also real fear of a crypto bubble that could go pop at any moment. “It feels so frothy right now,” an investor told me recently. “When you have your neighbors telling you which crypto to buy, something is probably going to go pop pretty soon.” The investor said the current state of play reminds him of the stock market in the late-’90s, when everyone got greedy, from the venture funds who were backing these start-ups with no revenue and no business plan, to the bankers who were getting rich on companies that were going public but had no business doing so, to new investing websites that were allowing moms-and-pops to invest in tech start-ups, and the frenzy that ended in the dot-com bubble pop, where $5 trillion fell out of the markets within two years.

Now, the hot new thing is NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are essentially digital art projects that can generally only be purchased with cryptocurrencies, and that can’t be hung on your wall, given that they live on the internet. The hot commodities in this space are things like “NBA Top Shot,” which are like cryptocurrency trading cards merging into a form of digital art slash collectibles (don’t try and make sense of it, trust me), some of which are worth $250,000 each, or one in a series of 10,000 unique pixelated characters, called CryptoPunks, that are currently selling for between $35,000 a piece, to a laughable few that are hoping to fetch more than a billion dollars. “It feels very similar to what buying Bitcoin would have been like in 2010,” one NFT investor who owns CryptoPunks told me. “Spending real money to get something you can’t even really explain to your smart friends.” The investor acknowledged that it’s definitely a big bet to buy these NFTs, but if it proves to be a thing, owning one of the CryptoPunks could end up being like owning the Mona Lisa.

Bitcoin Era is een handelsapplicatie die helpt bij het doen van investeringen in de cryptocurrency markt. De robot is volledig geautomatiseerd, wat betekent dat iedereen hem kan gebruiken, zelfs zonder handelservaring. Deze robot handelt alleen in bitcoins. De software voert investeringsonderzoek uit door de marktgegevens van bitcoin te analyseren om de laatste trends te ontdekken.

In tegenstelling tot menselijke handelaren kunnen algoritmen een enorme hoeveelheid gegevens in een fractie van een seconde analyseren en passende transacties plaatsen. Handelsrobots zoals deze maken gebruik van geavanceerde technologieën om een hoge nauwkeurigheid en handelssnelheid te garanderen.

Bitcoin Era vertrouwt op geavanceerde computeralgoritmes om de Bitcoin-markten te doorzoeken naar verhandelbare inzichten en transacties uit te voeren. Het gebruik van computeralgoritmen is geen nieuwe trend en wordt veel gebruikt in de hoogfrequente handel.

Hoogfrequente handel is een techniek die wordt gebruikt om financiële activa met een hoog hefboomeffect, zoals Forex, te verhandelen. Deze handelsmethode omvat een intelligent algoritme dat grote hoeveelheden gegevens analyseert en op basis daarvan handelsbeslissingen neemt.

Het beste van een goed algoritme is dat het binnen een fractie van een seconde grote gegevens nauwkeurig kan analyseren. Hierdoor kan de handelsrobot profiteren van zelfs de kleinste marktbeweging, wat resulteert in een hoge winstgevendheid.

Met een aanbetaling van minder dan 1000 euro slaagt de handelsrobot er dus in om een winst van maximaal 5000 euro per dag te behalen. De hoge rentabiliteit is mogelijk dankzij de hefboomwerking van de handelaars in samenwerking met deze bot.

Toch...

Het is belangrijk erop te wijzen dat het Bitcoin-tijdperk weliswaar zeer winstgevend is, maar ook enig risico met zich meebrengt. De cryptocurrency markt is erg volatiel, dus je moet alleen bedragen investeren die je je kunt veroorloven om te verliezen.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Alert to make investors aware about the potential risks of investments involving Bitcoin and other forms of virtual currency.

The rise of Bitcoin and other virtual and digital currencies creates new concerns for investors. A new product, technology, or innovation – such as Bitcoin – has the potential to give rise both to frauds and high-risk investment opportunities. Potential investors can be easily enticed with the promise of high returns in a new investment space and also may be less skeptical when assessing something novel, new and cutting-edge.

We previously issued an Investor Alert about the use of Bitcoin in the context of a Ponzi scheme. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) also recently issued an Investor Alert cautioning investors about the risks of buying and using digital currency such as Bitcoin. In addition, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) included digital currency on its list of the top 10 threats to investors for 2013.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin has been described as a decentralized, peer-to-peer virtual currency that is used like money – it can be exchanged for traditional currencies such as the U.S. dollar, or used to purchase goods or services, usually online. Unlike traditional currencies, Bitcoin operates without central authority or banks and is not backed by any government.

If you are thinking about investing in a Bitcoin-related opportunity, here are some things you should consider.

Investments involving Bitcoin may have a heightened risk of fraud. 

Innovations and new technologies are often used by fraudsters to perpetrate fraudulent investment schemes. Fraudsters may entice investors by touting a Bitcoin investment “opportunity” as a way to get into this cutting-edge space, promising or guaranteeing high investment returns. Investors may find these investment pitches hard to resist.

As with any investment, be careful if you spot any of these potential warning signs of investment fraud:

• “Guaranteed” high investment returns. There is no such thing as guaranteed high investment returns. Be wary of anyone who promises that you will receive a high rate of return on your investment, with little or no risk.
• Unsolicited offers. An unsolicited sales pitch may be part of a fraudulent investment scheme. Exercise extreme caution if you receive an unsolicited communication – meaning you didn’t ask for it and don’t know the sender – about an investment opportunity.
• Unlicensed sellers. Federal and state securities laws require investment professionals and their firms who offer and sell investments to be licensed or registered. Many fraudulent investment schemes involve unlicensed individuals or unregistered firms. Check license and registration status by searching the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) website or FINRA’s BrokerCheck website.
• No net worth or income requirements. The federal securities laws require securities offerings to be registered with the SEC unless an exemption from registration applies. Most registration exemptions require that investors are accredited investors. Be highly suspicious of private (i.e., unregistered) investment opportunities that do not ask about your net worth or income. 
• Sounds too good to be true. If the investment sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember that investments providing higher returns typically involve more risk.
• Pressure to buy RIGHT NOW. Fraudsters may try to create a false sense of urgency to get in on the investment. Take your time researching an investment opportunity before handing over your money.

Bitcoin users may be targets for fraudulent or high-risk investment schemes.

Both fraudsters and promoters of high-risk investment schemes may target Bitcoin users. The exchange rate of U.S. dollars to bitcoins has fluctuated dramatically since the first bitcoins were created. As the exchange rate of Bitcoin is significantly higher today, many early adopters of Bitcoin may have experienced an unexpected increase in wealth, making them attractive targets for fraudsters as well as promoters of high-risk investment opportunities.

Fraudsters target any group they think they can convince to trust them. Scam artists may take advantage of Bitcoin users’ vested interest in the success of Bitcoin to lure these users into Bitcoin-related investment schemes. The fraudsters may be (or pretend to be) Bitcoin users themselves. Similarly, promoters may find Bitcoin users to be a receptive audience for legitimate but high-risk investment opportunities. Fraudsters and promoters may solicit investors through forums and online sites frequented by members of the Bitcoin community.       

Using Bitcoin may limit your recovery in the event of fraud or theft.

If fraud or theft results in you or your investment losing bitcoins, you may have limited recovery options. Third-party wallet services, payment processors and Bitcoin exchanges that play important roles in the use of bitcoins may be unregulated or operating unlawfully.

Law enforcement officials may face particular challenges when investigating the illicit use of virtual currency. Such challenges may impact SEC investigations involving Bitcoin:

• Tracing money. Traditional financial institutions (such as banks) often are not involved with Bitcoin transactions, making it more difficult to follow the flow of money.
• International scope. Bitcoin transactions and users span the globe. Although the SEC regularly obtains information from abroad (such as through cross-border agreements), there may be restrictions on how the SEC can use the information and it may take more time to get the information. In some cases, the SEC may be unable to obtain information located overseas.
• No central authority. As there is no central authority that collects Bitcoin user information, the SEC generally must rely on other sources, such as Bitcoin exchanges or users, for this type of information.
• Seizing or freezing bitcoins. Law enforcement officials may have difficulty seizing or freezing illicit proceeds held in bitcoins. Bitcoin wallets are encrypted and unlike money held in a bank or brokerage account, bitcoins may not be held by a third-party custodian.

Investments involving Bitcoin present unique risks.

Consider these risks when evaluating investments involving Bitcoin:

• Not insured. While securities accounts at U.S. brokerage firms are often insured by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and bank accounts at U.S. banks are often insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), bitcoins held in a digital wallet or Bitcoin exchange currently do not have similar protections.
• History of volatility. The exchange rate of Bitcoin historically has been very volatile and the exchange rate of Bitcoin could drastically decline. For example, the exchange rate of Bitcoin has dropped more than 50% in a single day. Bitcoin-related investments may be affected by such volatility.
• Government regulation. Bitcoins are not legal tender. Federal, state or foreign governments may restrict the use and exchange of Bitcoin.
• Security concerns. Bitcoin exchanges may stop operating or permanently shut down due to fraud, technical glitches, hackers or malware. Bitcoins also may be stolen by hackers.
• New and developing. As a recent invention, Bitcoin does not have an established track record of credibility and trust. Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are evolving.

***

Before making any investment, carefully read any materials you are given and verify the truth of every statement you are told about the investment. For more information about how to research an investment, read our publication Ask Questions. Investigate the individuals and firms offering the investment, and check out their backgrounds by searching the SEC’s IAPD website or FINRA’s BrokerCheck website and by contacting your state securities regulator.

Additional Resources

SEC Investor Alert: Ponzi Schemes Using Virtual Currencies

SEC Investor Alert: Social Media and Investing – Avoiding Fraud

SEC Investor Alert: Private Oil and Gas Offerings

SEC Investor Bulletin: Affinity Fraud

FINRA Investor Alert: Bitcoin: More Than a Bit Risky

NASAA Top Investor Threats

IRS Virtual Currency Guidance

European Banking Authority Warning to Consumers on Virtual Currencies

Contact the SEC

Submit a question to the SEC or call the SEC’s toll-free investor assistance line at (800) 732-0330 (dial 1-202-551-6551 if calling from outside of the United States).

Report a problem concerning your investments or report possible securities fraud to the SEC.

Stay Informed

Bill Gateshates it. Elon Muskloves it. Janet Yellenkind of, sort of likes it; but she definitely doesn’t want any of bitcoin investering fake. Jack Dorsey is obsessed with it. Mark Zuckerbergwants to copy it (what else is new). Snoop Dogg,Serena Williams, and Ashton Kutcher could potentially make a small fortune on it, as have some of the world’s nerdiest nerds. There are economists who predict it’s going to be worth $1 million one day, while others say that it will be worthless any day now. If you’d purchased just $1 worth of it in May 2010, that investment would be worth almost $5 million today. (When I did that math I uttered the same expletive you likely just did.) 

Yes, I’m talking about that insane, mind-boggling, gibberish-inducing phenomenon called Bitcoin.

If you’re wondering what on earth is going on with the world’s first cryptocurrency (or any of them for that matter), you’re not alone, bitcoin investering fake. Since the COVID pandemic began in early March, Bitcoin’s value has risen more than 1,000%, reaching an all-time high of almost bitcoin investition online each this week, based bitcoin investering fake nothing more than market speculation, bitcoin investering fake, before taking it’s usual vertiginous fall, bitcoin investering fake, and dropping roughly $10,000 in the last few days based on little more than an Elon Musk tweet. But while a lot can happen during any decade—10 years ago today, the best investment rate of return uk hadn’t yet been invented and Donald Trump was still a washed-up reality-TV star instead of bitcoin investition online a washed-up, twice-impeached president—the rise of crypto over the past 10 years has been one of the standout investment opportunities in human history, and yet, one of the most confusing and, perhaps, without merit since we started trading in Mesopotamian shekels. 

Part of the problem with the crypto segment of tech and finance is that most forms of cryptocurrencies only make sense to a small handful bitcoin investering fake people, and are barely comprehensible to most of us. Just look at the description for any of the new up-and-coming “coins” that have been recently released: “We are your go-to yield farm running on Binance Smart Chain and Pancakeswap exchange.” (Yes, exactly.) There is no question that the future of finance is going to be digital, whether it’s cryptocurrencies that are pegged to physical notes, like the U.S. dollar or the Japanese yen, or a global monetary asset, like gold or silver, there will come a time (in our lifetime) where bitcoin investors forum orange county will be a norm to pay for things, in the real world and the ever-changing digital one, with some sort of crypto coins. It may be that we shop on Amazon with Amazoncoins, or buy a house with some form of digital assets—no one knows, yet—but what’s happening right now with the frenzy around buying crypto assets is largely a result of pandemic-era boredom, where people with expendable income (or gambling problems) have little else to spend their money on, and too much time to see that they might be missing out on a get-rich-quick scheme—PFOMO, pandemic-era fear of missing out? Add in a little GameStop-Reddit-style investing with crypto apps, like Coinbase, and voilà, you’ve got the frenzy currently taking place with Bitcoin and its ilk—though, bitcoin investering fake, let’s be honest here, crypto is a point of privilege in the midst of a global pandemic with rampant job loss and mile-long lines at foodbacks. For those more fortunate, crypto has become the go-to investment opportunity. “Right now, there’s no reason to buy fancy clothes, you can’t go on luxurious vacations, or dine at extravagant restaurants, so people are looking at places to put their money,” one Bitcoin retailer investor told me. “Seeing how much you can make on these investments can quickly become addictive, and next thing you know, you’re all in.” 

But while the potential return on investment can be staggering, so can the real losses. In December 2017, bitcoin investering fake, Bitcoin was riding high at close to $20,000 each, and then fell dramatically, and didn’t fully recover until December of last year, bitcoin investering fake. Now, crypto is going in the opposite direction, with the collective market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies being traded in the world today being worth over $1 trillion. But there’s also real fear of a crypto bubble that could go pop at any moment. “It feels so frothy right now,” an investor told me recently. “When you have your neighbors telling you which crypto to buy, something is probably going to go pop pretty soon.” The investor said the current state of play reminds him of the stock market in the late-’90s, when everyone got greedy, from the venture funds who were backing these start-ups with no revenue and no business plan, to the bankers who were getting rich on companies that were going public but had no business doing so, to new investing websites that were allowing moms-and-pops to invest in tech start-ups, and the frenzy that ended in the dot-com bubble pop, bitcoin investering fake, where $5 trillion fell out of the markets within two years.

Now, the hot new thing is NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are essentially digital art projects that can generally only bitcoin investering fake purchased with cryptocurrencies, and that can’t be hung on your wall, given that they live on the internet. The hot commodities in this space are things like “NBA Top Shot,” which are like cryptocurrency trading cards merging into a form of digital art global investors meet chennai highlights collectibles (don’t try and make sense of it, trust me), some of which are worth $250,000 each, or one in a series of 10,000 unique pixelated characters, called CryptoPunks, that are currently selling for between $35,000 a piece, to a laughable few that are hoping to fetch more than a billion dollars. “It feels very similar to what buying Bitcoin would have been like in 2010,” one NFT investor who owns CryptoPunks told me. “Spending real money to get something you can’t even really explain to your smart friends.” The investor acknowledged that it’s definitely a big bet to buy these NFTs, but if it proves to be a thing, owning one of the CryptoPunks could end up being like bitcoin investering fake the Mona Lisa.

Bitcoin Era is een handelsapplicatie die helpt bij het doen van investeringen in de cryptocurrency markt. De robot is volledig geautomatiseerd, wat betekent dat iedereen hem kan gebruiken, zelfs zonder handelservaring. Deze robot handelt alleen in bitcoins. De software voert investeringsonderzoek uit door de marktgegevens van bitcoin te analyseren om de laatste trends te ontdekken.

In tegenstelling tot menselijke handelaren kunnen algoritmen een enorme hoeveelheid gegevens in een fractie van een seconde analyseren en passende transacties plaatsen. Handelsrobots zoals deze maken gebruik van geavanceerde technologieën om een hoge nauwkeurigheid en handelssnelheid te garanderen.

Bitcoin Era vertrouwt op geavanceerde computeralgoritmes om de Bitcoin-markten te doorzoeken naar verhandelbare inzichten en transacties uit te voeren. Het gebruik van computeralgoritmen is geen nieuwe trend en wordt veel gebruikt in de hoogfrequente handel.

Hoogfrequente handel is een techniek die wordt gebruikt om financiële activa met een hoog hefboomeffect, zoals Forex, te verhandelen. Bitcoin investering fake handelsmethode omvat een intelligent algoritme dat grote hoeveelheden gegevens analyseert en op basis daarvan handelsbeslissingen neemt.

Het beste van een goed algoritme bitcoin investering fake dat het binnen een fractie van een seconde grote gegevens nauwkeurig kan analyseren. Hierdoor kan de handelsrobot profiteren van zelfs de kleinste marktbeweging, wat resulteert in een hoge winstgevendheid.

Met een aanbetaling van minder dan 1000 euro slaagt de handelsrobot er dus in om een winst van maximaal 5000 euro per dag te behalen. De hoge rentabiliteit is mogelijk dankzij de hefboomwerking van de handelaars in samenwerking met deze bot.

Toch.

Het is belangrijk erop te wijzen dat het Bitcoin-tijdperk weliswaar zeer winstgevend is, maar ook enig risico met zich meebrengt. De cryptocurrency markt is erg volatiel, dus je moet alleen bedragen investeren die je je kunt veroorloven om te verliezen.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Alert to make investors aware about the potential risks of investments involving Bitcoin and other forms of virtual currency.

The rise of Bitcoin and other virtual and digital currencies creates new concerns for investors. A new product, technology, or innovation – geld verdienen mit instagram fotos as Bitcoin – has the potential to give rise both to frauds and high-risk investment opportunities. Potential investors can be easily enticed with the promise of high returns in a new investment space and also may be less skeptical when assessing something novel, new and cutting-edge.

We previously issued an Investor Alert about the use of Bitcoin in the context of a Ponzi scheme. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) also recently issued an Investor Alert cautioning investors about the risks of buying and using digital currency such as Bitcoin. In addition, the North American Securities Administrators Association bitcoin investering fake included digital currency on its list of the top 10 threats to investors for 2013.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin has been described as a decentralized, peer-to-peer virtual currency that is used like money – it can be exchanged for traditional currencies such as the U.S. dollar, or used to purchase goods or services, usually online. Unlike traditional currencies, Bitcoin operates without central authority or banks and is not backed by any government.

If you are thinking about investing in a Bitcoin-related opportunity, here are some bitcoin investopedia analysis you should consider.

Investments involving Bitcoin may have a heightened risk of fraud. 

Innovations and new technologies are often used by fraudsters to perpetrate fraudulent investment schemes. Fraudsters may entice investors by touting a Bitcoin investment “opportunity” as a way to get into this cutting-edge space, promising or guaranteeing high investment returns. Investors may find these investment pitches hard to resist.

As with any investment, be careful if you spot any of these potential warning signs of investment fraud:

• “Guaranteed” high investment returns. There is no such thing as guaranteed high investment returns. Be wary of anyone who promises that you will receive a high rate of return on your investment, with little or no risk.
• Unsolicited offers. An unsolicited sales pitch may be part of a fraudulent investment scheme. Exercise extreme caution if you receive an unsolicited communication – meaning you didn’t ask for it and don’t know the sender – about an investment opportunity.
• Unlicensed sellers. Federal and state securities laws require investment professionals and their firms who offer and sell investments to be licensed or registered. Many fraudulent investment schemes involve unlicensed individuals or unregistered firms. Check license and registration status by searching the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) website or FINRA’s BrokerCheck website.
• No net worth or income requirements. The federal securities laws require securities offerings to be registered with the SEC unless an exemption from registration applies. Most registration exemptions require that investors are accredited investors. Be highly suspicious of private (i.e., unregistered) investment opportunities that do not ask about your net worth or income. 
• Sounds too good to be true. If the investment sounds too good to be true, bitcoin investering fake, it probably is. Remember that investments providing higher returns typically involve more risk.
• Pressure to buy RIGHT NOW. Fraudsters may try to create a false sense of urgency to get in on the investment. Take your time researching an investment opportunity before handing over your money.

Bitcoin users may be targets for fraudulent or high-risk investment schemes.

Both fraudsters and promoters of high-risk investment schemes may target Bitcoin users. The exchange rate of U.S. dollars to bitcoins has fluctuated dramatically since the first bitcoins were created. As the exchange rate of Bitcoin is significantly higher today, bitcoin investering fake, many early adopters of Bitcoin may have experienced an unexpected increase in wealth, making them attractive targets for fraudsters as well as promoters of high-risk investment opportunities.

Fraudsters target any group they think they can convince to trust them. Scam artists may take advantage of Bitcoin users’ vested interest in the success of Bitcoin to lure these users into Bitcoin-related investment schemes. The fraudsters may be (or pretend to be) Bitcoin users themselves. Similarly, promoters may find Bitcoin users to be a receptive audience for legitimate but high-risk investment opportunities. Fraudsters and promoters may solicit investors through forums and online sites frequented by bitcoin investering fake of the Bitcoin community.       

Using Bitcoin may limit your recovery in the event of fraud or theft.

If fraud or theft results in you or your investment losing bitcoins, you may have bitcoin investering fake recovery options. Third-party wallet services, payment processors and Bitcoin exchanges that play important roles in the use of make money online money saving expert may be unregulated or operating unlawfully.

Law enforcement officials may face particular challenges when investigating the illicit use of virtual currency. Such challenges may impact SEC investigations involving Bitcoin:

• Tracing money. Traditional financial institutions (such as banks) often are not involved with Bitcoin transactions, making it more difficult to follow the flow of money.
• International scope. Bitcoin transactions and users span the globe. Although the SEC regularly obtains information from abroad (such as through cross-border agreements), there may be restrictions on how the SEC can use the information and it may take more time to get the information. In some cases, bitcoin investering fake, the SEC may be unable to obtain information located overseas.
• No central authority. As there is no central authority that collects Bitcoin user information, bitcoin investering fake, the SEC generally must rely on other sources, such as Bitcoin exchanges or users, near reality money making guide 2022 this type of information.
• Seizing or freezing bitcoins. Law enforcement officials may have difficulty seizing or freezing illicit proceeds held in bitcoins, bitcoin investering fake. Bitcoin wallets are encrypted and unlike money held in a bank or brokerage account, bitcoins may not be held by a third-party custodian.

Investments involving Bitcoin present unique risks.

Consider these risks when evaluating investments involving Bitcoin:

• Not insured. While securities accounts at U.S. brokerage firms are often insured by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and bank accounts at U.S. banks are often insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), bitcoins held in a digital wallet or Bitcoin exchange currently do not have similar protections.
• History of volatility. The exchange rate of Bitcoin historically has been very volatile and the exchange rate of Bitcoin could drastically decline. For example, the exchange rate of Bitcoin has dropped more than 50% in a single day. Bitcoin-related bitcoin investering fake may be affected by such volatility.
• Government regulation. Bitcoins are not legal tender, bitcoin investering fake. Federal, state or foreign governments may restrict the use and exchange of Bitcoin.
• Security concerns. Bitcoin exchanges may stop operating or permanently shut down due to fraud, technical glitches, hackers or malware. Bitcoins also may be stolen by hackers.
• New and developing. As a recent invention, Bitcoin does not have an established track record of credibility and trust. Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are evolving.

***

Before making any investment, carefully read any materials you are given and verify the truth of every statement you are told about the investment. For more information about how to research an investment, bitcoin investering fake, read our publication Ask Questions, bitcoin investering fake. Investigate the individuals and firms offering the investment, and check out their backgrounds by searching the SEC’s IAPD website or FINRA’s BrokerCheck website and by contacting your state securities regulator.

Additional Resources

SEC Investor Alert: Ponzi Schemes Using Virtual Currencies

SEC Investor Alert: Social Media and Investing – Avoiding Fraud

SEC Investor Alert: Private Oil and Gas Offerings

SEC Investor Bulletin: Affinity Fraud

FINRA Investor Alert: Bitcoin: More Than a Bit Risky

NASAA Top Investor Threats

IRS Virtual Currency Guidance

European Banking Authority Warning to Consumers on Virtual Currencies

Contact the SEC

Submit a question to the SEC or call the SEC’s toll-free investor assistance line at (800) 732-0330 (dial 1-202-551-6551 if calling from outside of the United States).

Report a problem concerning your investments or report possible securities fraud to the SEC.

Stay Informed

By Zoe Kleinman
Technology reporter