Since the start of 2021 through June 2022, people have reported losing over $1.3 billion in cryptocurrency to scams. Nearly half say the scam began with an ad, post, or message on social media. The largest share of the losses, about $785 million, involved bogus investment opportunities. Cryptocurrency was the payment method used for about one in every four dollars reported lost to fraud during this period.

In this Black Headline News Live segment, host, Julia Dudley Najieb features from a September Ethnic Media Services news briefing FTC experts who explain how cryptocurrency scams work, why they are growing so fast, and what the latest “trending” scams are. They’ll also talk about groups most at risk, such as the Black and Latino communities.

Experts Rosario Méndez, Elizabeth Kwok, and Cristina Miranda also expound on how to spot and avoid cryptocurrency scams, and how to report them.

Finally, African-American cryptocurrency scam victim, Jeffrey Vaulx, shares his personal story of how it happened to him.