Crypto Scammers Preying on Elderly Japanese Singletons – Report
Crypto scammers are targeting elderly Japanese singles on social media and dating apps. But middle-aged Japanese lonely hearts are also finding themselves in fraudsters’ cross-hairs. And some scammers appear to be targeting yet-younger individuals.
In a column for Nikkan Gendai, the financial advisor Kuroiwa Yasushi wrote:
“Single elderly people are lonely. I understand that. However, [crypto scammers] who prey on them are now rampant. The victims of crypto fraud are now coming forward, one after another.”
Kuroiwa gave the example of one of his clients – a man in his 60s – who contacted him for advice on Bitcoin (BTC). During the course of their conversation, the man revealed that he had been chatting with a “woman” on a dating app. She said that she wanted him to invest in BTC via a certain platform.
Of late, dating app-based scammers appear keen to direct their victims onto bogus crypto trading platforms. Once they have control of their victim’s funds, the scammers typically break off contact.
Some also look to trick victims into buying “crypto mining packages” that offer “guaranteed” monthly earnings. A number of such schemes – in Japan, elsewhere in East Asia, and further afield, have been exposed as rug-pulls or more basic scams.
Kuroiwa explained that he eventually managed to help the client identify the “suspicious” nature of the “woman” he had been chatting with. But he warned that “single elderly people should be careful” when using chat apps, and aware of the growing dangers of “cryptoasset scammers.”
The media outlet Nico Video reported that crypto scammers were also preying on younger victims on platforms such as Line, Twitter, and Instagram. The media outlet reported that multi-level marketing (MLM) scam
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