Singaporean authorities warned the public to be aware of fraudulent activities of companies that mislead investors while claiming that the government has officially adopted a digital currency. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) posted on their website on January 29 that some cryptocurrency websites claim that the Singaporean government has adopted the currencies as its official coin.
The warning said that the websites claim that a specific firm was appointed to exclusively market the cryptocurrency. The crypto firms are requiring readers to provide their personal and financial information to obtain the currency.
MAS advised the public to never send any financial or personal information to these firms. The Singaporean authority, along with the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) had issued a series of warnings in 2018 asking the public to be cautious in doing business using the cryptocurrencies. The two departments also advised the public about the risks of cryptocurrency investments.
The Singaporean government encourages the public to report any suspicious cryptocurrency activities to the relevant authorities. Recently, MAS banned a Singaporean initial coin offering (ICO) project from operating in the country. Reports that circulated said that the project plans to conduct a security token offering (STO) without registration to the right agency and without complying the required set of security laws.
Crimes that involved cryptocurrency increased significantly which caused the crypto exchanges to team up with law enforcement to counter money laundering. In Korea, crypto exchanges including Quinone, Korbit, Bithumb, and Upbit teamed up to create a hotline to help share suspicious transactions on their platforms like pyramid schemes, phishing predatory lending, and other illegal activities.
According to the report of CipherTrace, in 2018, a record of crypto-related frauds amounted to about $1.7 billion. The blockchain analytics firm's report said that the amount that hackers stole amounted to not less than $950 million. Despite the efforts of the government to crack the frauds, criminals always find way including luring investors while posing as legitimate businesses.
Security over cryptocurrency is heightened globally. The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong warned leading cryptocurrency platforms and ICOs of dire consequences if they will engage in fraudulent activities. Other governments including the United States, Canada, Japan, Venezuela, China, India, and Australia also formulated ways of keeping the crypto industry in their own respective countries.
People operating fake cryptocurrencies are hard to be traced since they only exist for a while. Authorities all over the globe advise the public to neither invest nor submit their personal information to any suspicious transaction on the internet.
