California regulator warns of 17 crypto websites suspected of fraud
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has fired off 17 separate warnings over two days of crypto brokers and websites it suspects of being fraudulent.
The list includes Tahoe Digital Exchange, TeleTrade Options, Tony Alin Trading Firm, Hekamenltd/Tosal Markets Limited, Trade 1960, Yong Ying Global Investment Company Limited, Unison FX, VoyanX.com, and ZC Exchange, to name a few.
Additionally, there are two copycat sites posing as two big names in the crypto sector with eth-Wintermute.net, and UniSwap LLC.
At the time of writing, the DFPI's consumer alert page has posted 17 warnings over Dec. 27 and Dec. 28 stating that these companies “appear to be engaged in fraud against California consumers.”
It is not common for the DFPI to post so many alerts in one go, suggesting that the number of crypto scam reports may have ramped up in the latter stages of the year. The DFPI usually posts sporadic warnings about investigations into companies, or alerts of certain incidents.
The last time the DFPI sent out such a large batch of crypto scam alerts was June 15, when it sounded the alarm bells over 26 dubious crypto platforms.
The warnings came in response to complaints from citizens against the brokers and websites, with the DFPI stating the individuals have reported having lost anywhere from $2,000 to as much as $1.2 million in certain cases. The DFPI however only goes as far as to say that these websites "appears to be engaged in fraud."
A key theme alleged in most of these warnings relates to pig slaughtering scams, which involve an individual or group creating a fake identity online to build fake relationships or friendships via social media, messaging and dating apps.
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