Text scammers blasting out bogus job offers stole $2.2M in crypto, NY AG says: Never-ending nightmare

Text message scammers blasting out bogus job offers swindled several people out of $2.2M in crypto bucks, the New York attorney general alleged Thursday.The lawsuit filed by Attorney General Letitia James’ office covers seven alleged victims in Queens and Nassau County, plus two from Virginia and Florida, who each lost between a few thousand dollars to more than $300,000 in the cryptocurrency-based scheme.“I’m gonna die,” one victim said after she lost her meager savings in the scam, according to court papers.Another victim called it a “never-ending nightmare,” the filing states.The twisted scheme ran for at least half a year between January and June of last year — with the crooks subjecting their prey to the same playbook, regardless of where they lived, the AG’s office said.Scammers would start by sending unsolicited text messages from spoofed numbers about great remote work opportunities with high pay and flexible hours.Victims who responded were told the gigs required them to review products online.But first, they were told to open cryptocurrency accounts — or online wallets — and to maintain a specific balance to cover the value of the name-brand products they were set to review.“Victims were assured that they were not buying the products, but that maintaining those account balances helped ‘legitimize’ the data they were generating,” the suit states. The crooks invented false companies with names like Digistore24, CultureFit Technology, FeraAI, Birdeye, Summit Digital Marketing, Diverse Staffing, Page Zero Media, Work Source Inc.

and Sachs Marketing Group to represent fraudulent staffing firms, court documents claim.“Deceiving New Yorkers looking to take on remote work and earn money to support their families is cruel and unacceptable,” said James, who filed the suit in Queens Supreme Court.“Scammers sent text messages to New Yorkers promising them good-paying, flexible jobs only to trick them into purchasing cryptocurrency ...