CISA issued an alert warning of impersonation scams using government officials‘ names and titles, emphasizing they never request money or cryptocurrency via wiring or gift cards.
On June 12, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an alert regarding increased impersonation schemes that frequently employ “the names and titles of government employees.”
The CISA alert specified that its personnel will never request money transmission, “cash, cryptocurrency, or the use of gift cards.”
“If you suspect you are a target of an impersonation scammer claiming to be a CISA employee, do not pay the caller; take note of the phone number calling you; hang up immediately, [and] validate the contact by calling CISA.”
Phil Larratt, the director of investigations at Chainalysis, responded to written inquiries by stating that scams “remain a significant threat to the [crypto] ecosystem as a whole.”
Scams are once again “one of the biggest drivers of cryptocurrency-based crime,” according to Larratt, generating a minimum of $4.6 billion in revenue in 2023.
“Impersonation scams, in particular, had the fourth-worst impact on victims in 2023 based on an average payment size of $948, as we found in our Chainalysis 2024 Crypto Crime Report.”
Larratt stated that a primary line of defense against large-scale fraud is through preventative efforts, which begin with public education, under the actions recommended by the CISA.
“This is critical because once crypto assets are transferred to a third party, there is no longer control of that asset without the private keys of the third party’s funds.”
