Scammers dupe New York residents with the promise of remote jobs

Scammers have targeted and duped unsuspecting New York residents by promising to secure remote jobs for them. The scammers prey on the desperation of the city’s residents, offering them various remote jobs and failing to keep their promises. The criminals told the job seekers to deposit a certain amount in digital assets into an account to help them secure the jobs.

According to a statement by the New York Attorney General, Letitia James, the unsuspecting victims were targeted via sophisticated schemes. The New York AG mentioned that the scammers told the users to purchase stablecoins and deposit them into their wallets to secure their positions.

In the statement, AG James noted that the case was a joint investigation effort with the Queens County District Attorney’s office, the office of the Attorney General, and the United States Secret Service.

New York Attorney General wants to recover stolen loot 

According to the statement, the Attorney General already filed a lawsuit to retrieve the digital assets pooled into various wallets by New York residents. Aside from recovering the loot, which has been frozen since the alarm was raised, she wants the scammers to face the law and pay restitution. She noted that it was a very cruel thing that the criminals did, taking advantage of people trying to secure jobs to support their families.

She also said it was unacceptable and she would do everything in her power to recover the funds. “Deceiving New Yorkers looking to take on remote work and earn money to support their families is cruel and unacceptable,” AG James said.

She highlighted that the scammers stole funds in excess of $2 million from people across the country. According to her suit, a New York victim lost $100,000 to the scammers. She also urged people to be careful and report strange calls to her office.

“The cryptocurrency that has been frozen, thanks to my office, will be available to help residents defrauded by this scam. I urge all New Yorkers to be cautious of text messages from unknown senders claiming to offer jobs or other opportunities, and to report any scams to my office,” AG James added.

The scammers asked victims for USDT and USDC  

According to reports, the scammers asked their unsuspecting victims to send the funds in USDT and USDC stablecoins. The victims were guided by the scammers to make purchases on various licensed and registered exchanges, including Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Gemini. After the purchase, the scammers asked them to send the stablecoins to unhosted wallets.

Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the crime occurred across several jurisdictions in the country. The scammers majorly targeted people looking for remote jobs. They also promised to compensate their victims if they signed up on some crypto website and deposited funds on it.

Victims were also told to write several reviews on some fake products that were made to appear legitimate. The scammers told the victims that the reviews would help generate market data which would bring in buyers. The scammers also told them that they did not need to purchase the products as their reviews were helping to make the data legitimate.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz noted that the criminals lured victims to deposit funds using sophisticated technology before they stole them. “In this case, the perpetrators used advanced technology to lure victims into depositing cryptocurrency and stole millions of dollars in the form of stablecoins,” she said.

She mentioned that her office was able to trace about $2 million that went into some crypto wallet. Katz claimed that after the wallets were identified, she worked with AG James’ office to have the wallets frozen. The funds will remain frozen until they can figure out a way to return them to the rightful owners. She bemoaned the effect of the scam on the job market, noting that it would shatter people’s trust.

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