Sunacrip, the Venezuelan cryptocurrency watchdog, and the Intelligence Police (CICPC) issued a warning for the general population about cryptocurrency scams. The institutions gave a series of recommendations to avoid being scammed by cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes involving the national cryptocurrency, petro (PTR), advising users to always keep their accounts’ passwords secure. This is the government’s answer to a series of crypto scams that have been happening in the country in the last few days.
Venezuelan Regulator and Intelligence Police Warn Users
The cryptocurrency watchdog, Sunacrip, and the Venezuelan intelligence police have issued a warning on social media about general cyber security, advising users to take a series of basic steps to avoid being victims of crypto-related scams. The information was shared using the Instagram account of the information related crime division of the Intelligence police, where the institution stated:
We inform the community to avoid being victims of scams through the homeland system with false managers who only seek their own profit.
The homeland system is a platform development that serves as a way of getting petros (PTR), the national cryptocurrency, out of the internal wallet of the government and into Sunacrip approved exchanges, that allow users to sell their petros at market value. The intelligence police also suggested users move all of their crypto assets through Sunacrip-approved exchanges to guarantee their safety doing these transactions.
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Big Crypto Scams
Sunacrip also suggested users handle their accounts by themselves and avoid giving their passwords to third parties managing accounts. This is likely the answer to a big cryptocurrency scam that happened last week, when a man allegedly faked his kidnappings and stole more than one million dollars from his customers.
According to reports of Douglas Rico, head of the intelligence police in Venezuela, Andrés Jesús Dos Santos Hernández simulated a kidnapping where his captors allegedly forced him to enter the Binance platform and make transfers to different digital wallets, exhausting all of the crypto assets from his customers.
Dos Santos is now on the run from national authorities, facing money laundering and fraud charges. Binance has become a hotbed of financial movements from Venezuelans that are investing in cryptocurrencies, and different individuals are offering their services as financial advisors and consultants, managing investments and accounts from their customers. Specifically, Binance’s P2P market has dethroned the former leader platform, Localbitcoins, relegating it to second place in trading volumes.
What do you think about Sunacrip’s warning against crypto-scams? Tell us in the comments section below.
