A Cambridgeshire woman who was hunting for a new job found herself £3,000 out of pocket after falling for a Cryptocurrency scam.

Cambridgeshire Police said the woman initially started chatting to someone on Facebook about a potential job opportunity

But police said the conversation evolved from talking about the job to investing in crypto.

A spokesperson for the force has now warned others about similar scams.

placeholder image — Police have issued the fraud warning

The spokesperson said: “The fraudster started by asking the woman to invest small amounts of around £30 before sending her more back to show she had “made” on her investment.

“As time went on, they encouraged her to invest more money – around £300. Once she’d invested more, they told her there’d been an issue with the account and she needed to add more money to fix the problem.

“After parting with around £3,000 over a number of transactions, the fraudsters told the woman she needed to invest a further £2,000 to see a return.

“Realising it was a scam, the victim alerted police and cut contact with the fraudster.”

How to avoid becoming a victim

Police have now issued advice on how to avoid becoming a victim.

Do your research – criminals create fake platforms to imitate genuine investment sites. Search the company on the FCA Firm Checker and beware of poor design, spelling and grammar.

Beware unsolicited approaches over the phone, on social media or on dating platforms about day trading or crypto investment schemes

Beware of ‘early exit’ attempts to move communication from the original platform onto an encrypted platform, such as WhatsApp or Telegram

Beware of continuous pressure to make additional investments, and of messages being sent outside business hours

Be suspicious if you are advised to ignore warning messages from banks & crypto exchanges or being instructed not to tell anyone about a ‘special deal'