Beware of Crypto Recovery Scams: Here’s What You Need to Know

The rise of cryptocurrency has brought about new opportunities for investment, but it has also opened the door to scams and theft. With the value of all existing cryptocurrency reaching $2.33 trillion, according to Bankrate, the risk of losing your investment to hackers or scammers is a real concern.

One common scam that has emerged in the cryptocurrency space is the promise of recovering stolen funds. Many crypto recovery services claim to be able to help individuals retrieve their lost or stolen cryptocurrency, but the reality is that getting that stolen crypto back is nearly impossible.

According to the New Jersey Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), these recovery services are often scams. Scammers may impersonate government agencies or legitimate companies to convince victims that they can recover their lost funds. They may ask for a fee or financial information, leading to further losses that are irreversible.

Legitimate crypto recovery companies, such as Aura and Bitdefender, offer services to help with password and data recovery or regaining access to your crypto wallet. However, they will not promise to recover lost or stolen cryptocurrency because it is nearly impossible to do so. These companies will only charge you after successfully recovering your wallet.

If you do fall victim to a recovery scam, the CFTC recommends notifying local, state, and federal law enforcement and regulatory agencies. It’s important to be cautious and skeptical of any offers to recover stolen cryptocurrency and to only trust reputable companies with a proven track record of success in data recovery services.