A confidence trick (synonyms include confidence scheme and scam) is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their confidence. A confidence artist (or con artist) is an individual, operating alone or in concert with others, who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty, honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility, naïveté, or greed.
All stories in Confidence trick
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Big Brother billionaire suing Facebook over Bitcoin ads says agreement ‘is impossible’
It's been three months since de Mol sued Facebook over fraudulent Bitcoin, and now he says the firm's co-operation has been ...
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Moonday Mornings: North Korea denies earning $2B by hacking cryptocurrency exchanges and banks
We've collected a set of choice news articles about Bitcoin and blockchain that surfaced this past weekend for you to read. ...
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Researchers discover malware that records users' screens when they watch porn
Researchers from antivirus developer ESET recently discovered a new form of spam-delivered malware that threatens to steal ...
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Cryptocurrency scammers conned Australians out of $14.8M in just 7 months
Cryptocurrency investment scams in Australia cost victims a record $14.76 million between January and July this year.
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5 charged in connection with $2.7M Australian cryptocurrency scam
Australian police have charged five people in connection with a protracted cold call cryptocurrency investment scam that ...
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Unsuspecting victims were cryptojacked 52.7 million times in the first half of 2019
Criminals made a staggering 52.7 million cryptojacking hits during the first six months of the year. According to the ...
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Bullish Brits lost $34M to cryptocurrency scams last year
British investors lost £27 million ($34.38 million) to cryptocurrency scams over the last financial year, according to one ...
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What's a cryptocurrency exit scam and how do I spot one?
Google ‘cryptocurrency’ and the likelihood is you’ll see ‘exit scam’ somewhere in the results. But, what are they, ...
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Bitcoin scammers texted victims informing them they’d been conned out of $30,000
After putting over $30,000 into fake Bitcoin investments, a pair of amateur investors received a WhatsApp message telling ...
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India bank manager arrested in cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme crackdown
The allure of fast profits from cryptocurrency appears to have been too great for one bank manager in India who has been ...
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Indian scammers stole $2M in cryptocurrency using inspirational Bill Gates quotes
In spite of repeated warnings by the country's central bank, people in India continue to fall for cryptocurrency scams.
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Cyber criminals steal $27M in Bitcoin by impersonating popular cryptocurrency exchange
Police agencies from the UK and the Netherlands have arrested six people in connection with the theft of €24 million ($27 ...
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Watch out: Calìbra.com isn’t the same as Facebook's Calibra.com
Opportunistic scammers are taking advantage interest in Facebook's cryptocurrency attempting to con people out of Ethereum ...
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Report: Google Maps hosts 'millions' of fake business listings
But not all the listings on the app are reliable. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google Maps have over ...
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Swede facing extradition to US over $11M Bitcoin investment scam
A Swedish citizen has been charged with securities, wire fraud, and money laundering in a scheme that saw him encourage victims ...
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British Bitcoin scammer nets $50M running fake Bitcoin trading site
A British Bitcoin scammer based in the United Arab Emirates has admitted to a con that duped people, all over the world, ...
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Indian police arrest 78 in Bitcoin call center scam
A call center scam that targeted US citizens and requested payment in Bitcoin has been busted by police in India resulting ...
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Blockchain startups RepuX and JoyToken pull exit scam after raising $8M in ICOs
Even thought it's 2019, ICO exit scams are still being uncovered. The latest to surface has seemingly conned over $8 million ...
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55,000 Brazilians scammed out of $200M+ worth of fake cryptocurrency
A Brazilian crime ring has been shut down after conning over 55,000 investors for over $200 million by promising fake returns ...
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Bitcoin scammers net nearly $1M by telling people they can see them masturbate
A new kind of scam has accrued almost $1 million in bitcoin from frightened porn viewers, says a new report -- and they're ...
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The GitHub extortion victims are outsmarting their Bitcoin scammers
Blackmailers wiping GitHub repositories and withholding code to extort Bitcoin from their victims haven't made enough to ...
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Jersey man puts $1.5M life savings in Bitcoin scam, loses everything
A resident of the self-governing British island, Jersey, was duped for 18-months and has lost their life-savings of $1.5 ...
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$356 million in cryptocurrency stolen in first three months of 2019
Cryptocurrency exit scammers and exchange hackers have made a killing this year, and soon they'll have to launder it all... ...
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Australian cryptocurrency scams earned $4.3 million last year, up 190%
Australia's consumer watchdog has detailed the extent of the nation's problem with cryptocurrency fraud - and the data says ...
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Damned OneCoin scammers stole $2.3M from Kiwis using Samoan churches
Yet another organization thought to be tied the multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme OneCoin has been uncovered. ...
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Police bust 2 goons linked to $3B OneCoin cryptocurrency pyramid scheme
Two men were charged in Singapore today for promoting a cryptocurrency-based multi-level marketing scheme. Local police believe ...
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South Korean police use AI to bust $19M Bitcoin-fuelled pyramid scam
M-Coin is the latest cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme busted. This one was worth a whopping $19 million, and it targeted the elderly ...
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Belgian watchdog adds 7 new scams to its cryptocurrency blacklist
A Belgian regulator is warning citizens about the associated risks of dealing with cryptocurrencies after identifying seven ...
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Australian celebs targeted in long-running Bitcoin scam on Facebook
Bitcoin fraudsters are still using celebrities to promote their scams on Facebook and dupe investors out of money.
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Bitcoin scammers swindled UK investors out of $19M last year
Action Fraud has found that in the 12 months leading up to March 19, 2019, UK investors lost over £15 million ($19 million) ...
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US regulator blacklists Colorado trader for orchestrating $1.5M Bitcoin scam
A man in the US has been barred from trading following his alleged involvement in a Bitcoin scam that resulted in losses ...
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Bitcoin scammer boasts $760,000 payday through dark web domain squatting
A scammer is claiming to have made 200 BTC ($760,000) through 'typosquatting' criminal dark web sites on the Tor network, ...
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PSA: Don't use this fake Wasabi wallet to 'store' your Bitcoin
Watch out! Wasabi, the popular anonymizing cryptocurrency wallet, has been been duped by scammers in an apparent bid to steal ...
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Cryptocurrency platform Augur can't fix 'invalid market' scam without huge update
Decentralized betting protocol Augur is dealing with fraudsters gaming the system, but there's not much its devs can do about ...
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Blackmailers are posing as CIA agents to steal your Bitcoin
The Bitcoin sextortion scam has evolved: cryptocurrency fraudsters are now pretending to be the CIA in bid to fool you into ...
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Here are the 3 ways OneCoin defrauded cryptocurrency investors for billions
Another multi-billion dollar Pyramid scheme run by corrupt cryptocurrency crooks has been busted - but how in the hell was ...
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Bitcoin pyramid scheme leaves Kenyans out of pocket after exit scam
A long-running Bitcoin pyramid scheme has pulled its inevitable exit scam, leaving a number of investors severely out-of-pocket. ...
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Twitter's cryptocurrency scam bots are back with a fresh new look
More cryptocurrency scam bots have been spotted in the wild (Twitter), but these look way better than previous incarnations ...
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Scam ICO advertised on CoinMarketCap busted by police in India
Criminal investigation authorities in the Indian state of Gujarat have booked five people for running fraudulent initial ...
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Cryptocurrency named after India’s ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ ends in $250K scam
Police in India's financial hub Mumbai has booked a local resident Pritam Patil for duping $250,000 out of 12 people in a ...
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Bitcoin.com’s Roger Ver is still shilling ICOs like it’s 2017
The controversial ICO trend may have fallen out of fashion for most cryptocurrency influencers, but Bitcoin.com CEO Roger ...
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Blackmailers made $332,000 in Bitcoin during ‘sextortion’ scam
Cybercriminals raked in more than $300,000 in Bitcoin payments during a 'sextortion' email-based blackmail campaign, according ...
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12 Bitcoin scammers extradited to US for selling fake cars on eBay
An international cryptocurrency fraud cartel has been busted by a joint investigation between US and foreign authorities. ...
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Bitcoin con artists charged with $51M investment scam
A group of Bitcoin con artists has been charged with running an elaborate cryptocurrency scam that defrauded local and foreign ...
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Australian BitConnect boss hit with asset freeze and travel ban
Authorities have frozen the assets of BitConnect promoter John Bigatton, as investigations into the world's biggest cryptocurrency ...
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5 ludicrous cryptocurrency exit scams that regretfully happened in 2018
Exit scams refer to cunning plots, whereby blockchain startups collect investors money only to disappear suddenly, along ...
