(Reuters) – Greater than 46,000 folks reported shedding over $1 billion in cryptocurrency scams because the begin of 2021, the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) mentioned in a report on Friday.

Almost half the individuals who reported shedding digital currencies in a rip-off mentioned it began with an advert, put up or a message on a social media platform, in keeping with the FTC. (https://

The craze for cryptocurrencies was at a fever pitch final yr with bitcoin hitting a report excessive of $69,000 in November.

Stories level to social media and crypto as a flamable mixture for fraud, the company mentioned, including that about $575 million of all losses associated to digital forex frauds had been about “bogus funding alternatives”.

Almost 4 out of each ten {dollars} misplaced in a fraud originating on social media was misplaced in crypto, excess of another cost methodology, with Instagram, Fb (NASDAQ:), WhatsApp and Telegram being the highest social media platforms in such circumstances, in keeping with the report.

The typical reported loss for a person was $2,600 and bitcoin, tether and ether had been the highest cryptocurrencies that folks used to pay scammers, the FTC mentioned.