Wise Up: How Older Americans are Staying Safe on bitFlyer

bitFlyer is dedicated to providing a secure platform for buying, selling, and trading in cryptocurrency. 

Since the outset of Covid-19, the use of technology has increased and become an essential and necessary tool for communication, education, business, and personal use. And although technology is a useful tool to many, cyber attackers see this pandemic as a golden opportunity to take advantage of vulnerable demographics. Unfortunately, fraudsters often go after older adults because they are seen as easy targets of digital fraud and manipulation. Technology scams have become more common, more sophisticated, and harder to detect than ever. Fraudsters rely on individuals being naive to scams, forthcoming with personal information, and having little knowledge of technology use.

It’s important to us that our older customers are aware of the risks involved when dealing with digital currencies and handling sensitive information electronically. According to a study conducted in 2018 by Javelin Strategy and Research, the firm stated that “14.4 million individuals were victims of fraud or account takeover, and 3.3 million of those individuals were responsible for some of the liability of the fraud committed against them.” Additional information regarding account takeover can be found here. Sadly, as a result of Covid-19 and the massive increase in related scams, reports estimated that 2020 will be the biggest year for scams on record.

More and more older Americans are using social media today. Social media, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn, are extremely attractive to Fraudsters because they can appear legitimate and extract a large amount of often freely divulged information about a target . It’s important that you beware of social media scams such as: Pump-and-dumps, high-yield investment programs, research opinions, online investment newsletters, spam blasts, and spoofing/phishing profiles. Individuals must also take caution against fake US government Covid-19 related health care offers, bail-out opportunities, and stimulus packages. Always remember that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. 

 It’s our mission to equip our customers with adequate resources to protect themselves against fraud as much as possible. Other helpful fraud prevention resources include: FinCEN, FBI, NYDFS, and FTC. NYDFS recently published an insightful analysis of a recent scam targeting Twitter which may also be of interest to you. 

bitFlyer is committed to safeguarding your information and encourages all of our customers to be vigilant in protecting their accounts, (bitFlyer or otherwise). As a reminder, bitFlyer will never request you to provide sensitive personal information over email or telephone. If you notice any suspicious activity regarding your bitFlyer account, please contact Customer Support as soon as possible Here.

As a way to help ensure our customers are informed and safeguarding their investments, we have created a helpful guide with tips and tricks to avoid becoming a victim to scammers. For more information click here.

bitFlyer

bitFlyer is Japan's largest cryptocurrency exchange and the only exchange licensed to operate in the US, EU, and Japan. Since 2014, we've been pursuing our mission of making the world simpler with blockchain. Today, we empower millions of people across the globe to access cryptocurrencies.