Losses instead of returns

Bitcoin skyrocketing: fraudsters trick investors

Bitcoin is currently experiencing a boom, just as tempting for fraudsters.(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger/Daniel Scharinger)

As soon as Bitcoin is in high demand, investors have a loose euro. Operators of business platforms behind which fraudsters are operating are taking advantage of this. The first victims have already fallen into the trap. The perpetrators are already cashing in after registration.

At the beginning, the digital currency was anything but tempting. When it was founded, Bitcoin (BTC) was worth less than a cent. In spring 2010, 10,000 BTC, the equivalent of just a few cents, was the price of two pizzas in the first real Bitcoin transaction. Many people lost their appetite back then. But that changed abruptly.

How it all began
As early as 2013, the BTC value exceeded the 100 euro mark for the first time. At the end of the year, the Bitcoin price shot up and approached 1,000 euros. "The cryptocurrency market is now really interesting for many investors," says an insider. Fraudsters are exploiting this unscrupulously.

Enormous upswing
Trading is currently experiencing a new high. Bitcoin is suddenly rising again. The price jumped over the 60,000 US dollar hurdle just a few days ago. More and more private investors want a slice of the pie - and are getting caught up in a financial maelstrom. Including many Burgenlanders. An affected person from the district of Oberpullendorf came across an apparently specialist website via an internet article. Investments using Bitcoin were advertised and high returns were promised, allegedly managed by an AI.

249 euros as a deposit
The man had barely expressed his interest by clicking the mouse when he received a call from a supposed financial expert a short time later. The man from Burgenland promptly registered on the website in question. He received his access data by email. "In the next step, the 'investor' had to send his bank codes. He was then asked to transfer at least 249 euros via a link," explains an investigator.

Reports are piling up
In many other cases that have been reported, the fraudsters followed the same pattern. In the case of the victim from the Oberpullendorf district, the criminal business ended relatively lightly. When his wife found out about his Bitcoin deal, she immediately raised the alarm. She knew about the website, which had already been warned about on the Internet.

However, her husband's attempt to get the 249 euros he had paid back by phone failed. He now has no access at all and has at least had his bank account blocked.