Influencer scammed out of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency has a tip to avoid scams

According to Rowena, if something online seems “too good to be true,” then it probably is.

Her top advice to avoid making the same mistake is to pause and think carefully about an online offer that seems too good to be true.

“It was stopping and thinking, and it was talking to someone,” she told CNBC Make It last week.

“It’s about giving yourself an opportunity like that, no opportunity that disappears overnight. If it’s the right thing for you and it’s legal, it won’t disappear from your grasp like that.”

Rowena also recommends sifting through relevant messages to keep as evidence for yourself — and, if necessary, the authorities — as well as contacting your bank and other trusted institutions for advice. question.

Rowena, 37, is an entrepreneur and content creator on Instagram, where she shares fitness and health tips as well as stories about her motherhood experiences with more than 187,000 followers. The influencer, who also has 410,000 subscribers on YouTube and a sizable following on TikTok, has been living in Costa Rica with her husband and son since January.

In March, Rowena discovered a fake Instagram story, allegedly posted by her friend, claiming that she had hired someone to manage her bitcoins and had made a lot of money.

After seeing the story, Rowena messaged her friend on Instagram to get the contact information for the person she claimed to be hiring – who turned out to be a scammer who had hacked her friend’s account.

“I invested some money in cryptocurrency, which I would hold my hands up and say I don’t fully understand,” Rowena tells CNBC Make It.

“It’s a smart way to do it, because it’s like: I’m in but I don’t know what to do… so that’s why I clicked on it.”

The scammer in question directed Rowena to a fake investment platform, sent her a contract to review, and promised to refund 50% of her investment within 24 hours.

Rowena can even view an online dashboard intended to show the influencer her investments. But in reality, the dashboard was fake and Rowena’s cryptocurrency went straight into the scammer’s pocket.

Rowena was then told that she had made a lot of money – but to disburse it, she would have to pay the fake investment company a “commission”.

This makes Rowena suspicious. She texted her friend, who said her phone and social media accounts had been hacked – apparently as a way to scam her followers and friends.

Rowena’s description of feeling embarrassed when she realizes she has been duped is not uncommon.

Research from cyber security firm Akamai released on Tuesday into the impact of cybercrime on mental health found that more than 60% of victims in the UK said they felt traumatized by what happened to them. Surname.

Of 1,000 British cybercrime victims surveyed by Censuswide for Akamai, 59% admitted to feeling embarrassed, while 67% said they felt ashamed after the attack took place.

More than half (55%) said they continued to feel worried after cybercrime, especially when using online services.

According to Tara Quinn-Cirillo, an executive, when someone gets scammed, “often they feel guilty or we may feel stupid or incompetent for getting into that situation in the first place, no matter what type of cybercrime victim we are.” psychologist and associate of the British Psychological Society,

According to Quinn-Cirillo, people can easily let their guard down due to the fast-paced nature of modern life.

“Maybe a scam we got caught up in, a cybercrime spree, made us doubt our abilities, our capabilities, our intelligence,” Quinn-Cirillo said. “We can develop shame, so we can be ashamed of it.”

This shame can then negatively impact people by preventing them from doing things they enjoy or being active online. For example, Rowena has not invested in cryptocurrency since she was scammed because she is too afraid of being scammed again.

Victims of online fraud should contact organizations such as banks or the police to see if their money can be recovered.

“It’s about making sure that wherever you go to find information, it’s a reputable source,” Quinn-Cirillo tells CNBC Make It. “All these big organizations will have cybercrime advice, which is really important.”

If you find yourself in a situation like Rowena’s, Natalie Billingham, chief executive officer at Akamai, recommends adopting a “personal circuit breaker.”

“Whether it’s an email, whether it’s a chat: just take a second to stop and think, then let yourself establish the protocols. How do I test this link? ” Billingham told CNBC.

“If you click quickly or do something quickly, often you will regret it later and then go down a path you don’t want to go down.”

“When you go online, it’s like an invisible thing,” you realize that nothing is really real. No one will care. And that makes you feel really stupid,” Rowena said.

The account that Rowena interacted with on Instagram is still active on the platform, albeit private. A similar account is also available on Facebook.

Rowena said she continued to receive direct messages from the scammer asking for a fee to unlock her funds.

As long as the profile remains active, Rowena fears others could fall victim to the same attack. “I can only imagine how much money she would have if she had all those people,” she said.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, told CNBC Make It that fraudulent activity is not allowed on its platform and that it is investigating the account in question.

“We continuously invest in anti-fraud protections on our platform and work closely with law enforcement and regulators to solve this problem”.