Phoenix, Ariz. - During International Fraud Awareness Week, the Arizona Corporation Commission warns investors about fraudsters who are capitalizing on the increasing number of investors who have lost money to crypto investment scammers by running recovery room schemes that aim to steal even more money from victims.

Fraudsters exploit victims' hope of recovering lost crypto by offering them fake recovery services for a fee, often demanding payment in cryptocurrency.  They may send fake crypto coins or charge fees for services that provide publicly available information.  They contact potential victims through unsolicited messages, impersonating authorities, and the use high-pressure sales tactics. The scammers may impersonate a law enforcement agency, a securities regulator, or an association (usually fake) that helps crypto fraud victims recover their funds. These scammers running these schemes can be relentless to break down your sales resistance and you pay to get the barrage of calls, text messages and emails to stop. Hang up.  Don’t click. Pause and think about what they are offering.  Check with other sources and run internet searches to gather as much information as possible.

In connection with the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the Commission urges investors to stop and ask, “Is this fraud?” and to know some other red flags of crypto recovery scams:  

• Unsolicited communications from unknown individuals or companies.
• Use of advanced technologies like AI, fake websites, and testimonials to appear legitimate.
• Bait-and-switch tactics with worthless fake crypto coins.
• High fees for minimal services.

To protect themselves from crypto recovery scams, NASAA and the Commission recommend Arizona investors should do an online background search on the company and implement these guidelines:

1. Contact a securities regulator—Avoid anyone offering to help recover your lost crypto.  Instead, contact the Duty Officer at the Commission’s Securities Division to file an investor complaint.
2. Don’t respond--Ignore calls, emails, text messages or DMs from those you don’t know.  The best way to avoid being manipulated or pressured by a fraudster is to ignore, block and delete their messages because they will most likely move on if you ignore them.
3. Change your contact info—Especially if the solicitations fail to stop. Consider changing your telephone number and deleting online profiles, which can be inconvenient but necessary to protect yourself and your money.

To file an investor complaint, contact the Duty Officer at the Commission’s Securities Division by telephone at 602-542-0662 or by email at SecuritiesDiv@azcc.gov. For more tips and information about how to be an informed investor, visit azcc.gov/azinvestor.