The FBI warns fans of Play to Earn games of the risk of losing cryptocurrencies through fraud

The FBI spoke on Thursday warningaimed at fans of Play to Earn mobile and online games about the fact that cyber criminals are now using fake rewards to steal cryptocurrency.

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Scammers lure users, who have previously established a trusting relationship with them through long online conversations, to play specially crafted gaming applications with the promise of huge financial rewards, which grow in proportion to the amount invested.

“Criminals connect with victims online and form relationships with them over time, The FBI said in a statement released on the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) website. -WThe perpetrators then trick the victims into an online game or mobile game where players are allegedly rewarded with cryptocurrencies in exchange for certain activities, such as gambling. B. Growing “crops” on an animated farm.”

To participate in the game, victims are offered to buy cryptocurrency, which requires registering a crypto wallet. Users are told that the more funds they keep in this wallet, the greater the reward. But as soon as the victim stops depositing funds into the wallet, it gets emptied immediately.

The user is then promised that if additional taxes or fees are paid, their savings can be returned. However, this is just a new trick because even after paying additional fees, the victim is left with nothing.

As such, gamers should be wary of game invites that promise super-high financial rewards – if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

The FBI has provided a number of tips to help users protect themselves from this type of scam:

• Those who want to participate in cryptocurrency games are advised to create a unique wallet that will protect their main reserves from scammers’ access.
• It is recommended to use a third-party blockchain explorer to check the game wallet balance.
• It is advisable to regularly use a third-party program to check which websites or applications the player has accidentally granted access to their wallet and revoke those permissions.