Cryptocurrency and digital asset fraud topped the list of top scams that state regulators predict will be used against retail investors in 2022, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) announced at a press conference today.
The annual scam rankings are an “early warning system” to alert the public, other regulators and policy makers to the most prevalent investor swindles in the coming year, NASAA President Melanie Senter Lubin said.
Because bad actors “grab their scams right out of the headlines to make them believable, I don’t think the fact that cryptocurrencies and digital assets are the leading scheme is surprising, given the media attention,” Alabama Securities Director Joseph P. Borg of NASAA’s Enforcement Section Committee said.
“Stories of crypto millionaires and now billionaires attracted some investors to try their hand at investing in cryptocurrencies or crypto-related investments this year, and with them, many stories of those who bet big and lost big began appearing, and they will continue to appear in 2022,” added Borg.
The Alabama Securities Commission issued a cease and desist notice against 97 cryptocurrency trading websites in November after investors in the state were scammed by fraudulent trading platforms that promised…
