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> Everyone is vulnerable. It's not just crypto. That's the truly educational take. Many will jump the crypto hate wagon. I hate fraud and fraudsters. But the

> Everyone is vulnerable. It's not just crypto. That's the truly educational take. Many will jump the crypto hate wagon. I hate fraud and fraudsters. But the reality is crypto is just another excuse for the to defraud people. Interestingly, the same BBC article features links to other two frauds in contexts totally unrelated to crypto: Romance scam: NI woman swindled out of £112,000 life savings [1] International students in NI scammed out of £105,000 [2] [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-61241596 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-61241596 [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-61378430 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-61378430

martin_a 4y ago
I guess the difference is that YC is not funding romance scammers.
- ushakov 4y ago
  *yet
- thatguy0900 4y ago
  Someone just needs to find a great way to scale them.
- FabHK 4y ago
  Dating apps have been sued for using fake profiles; not sure they were funded by VCs and probably not YC. https://www.pcmag.com/news/ftc-sues-dating-site-over-fake-profiles https://www.pcmag.com/news/ftc-sues-dating-site-over-fake-pr... https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/09/ftc-sues-owner-online-dating-service-matchcom-using-fake-love-interest-ads-trick-consumers-paying https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/09/...
ericbarrett 4y ago
It's crazy, looking back, how the world has changed. Just a few decades ago, even a scam phone call was nearly unheard of, and it was national news when a few-million-dollar ponzi scheme blew up. Now? We're all playing Eve Online IRL: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Scams_in_EVE_Online https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Scams_in_EVE_Online
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  A few years ago the National Do-Not Call Registry seemed like it could actually make a difference.
iamben 4y ago
I think we're in a 'perfect storm' of fraud right now. Firstly, 'Reality TV' has become influencer culture. A lot of social media is you being bombarded with "look how great my life is" pictures. The newest sneakers, handbags, fancy cars, fancy watches. Young people with possessions. "This is what a good life is, this is what you could have." We spend a lot more time on social media than we did watching the TV. Secondly, we keep being told that 9-5 jobs are for suckers. That's what your parents did. Why work in an office for peanuts when those people you follow on Instagram get paid to dress up and take photos and go on fancy holidays? Every week there's an article about someone making 500k a month on OnlyFans, etc etc. Thirdly, a bunch of people have got wildly rich from cryptocurrency by being in the right place at the right time. Almost zero effort. You read about these people, and then you talk to your friends. Some of your friends tell you they've made 5 or 6k from a $500 investment in a coin with a dog's head on it and how easy it was. So now you have a large group of people who spent a long time on social media, don't want to work a 'proper' job but want to be rich and have the life that goes with it. They hear the stories about people who have actually got rich from crypto, quickly get caught up in Cryptotwitter (with the I've got $500 in bitcoin "have fun staying poor" folks telling them to get on the rocketship or miss out) and are now absolutely primed for the 'next Dogecoin' so they can get money for nothing. Of course the romance or student scams can happen, people will always fall for scams. But right now the crypto scam space has got to be like shooting fish in a barrel. It's like the get-rich-quick schemes we've alway had but on steroids.
- mbg721 4y ago
  > We spend a lot more time on social media than we did watching the TV. Is this actually true? When I was a kid, the amount of TV time was something of a moral panic; I'd have a hard time believing there were many more hours in the day left to consume. What I would believe is that social media's use of intermittent rewards makes people obsess about it even when they aren't actively using it.
  - cguess 4y ago
    You didn't have TV in your pocket, in bed, at dinner, in the car, the moment you wake up, while waiting in the bathroom, literally every moment you're even approaching the possibility of being slightly bored. You didn't have the opportunity to broadcast yourself and get immediate validation for the broadcast. The rewards are the icing on an all-inclusive cake.

martin_a 4y ago

I guess the difference is that YC is not funding romance scammers.

ushakov 4y ago
*yet
thatguy0900 4y ago
Someone just needs to find a great way to scale them.
FabHK 4y ago
Dating apps have been sued for using fake profiles; not sure they were funded by VCs and probably not YC. https://www.pcmag.com/news/ftc-sues-dating-site-over-fake-profiles https://www.pcmag.com/news/ftc-sues-dating-site-over-fake-pr... https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/09/ftc-sues-owner-online-dating-service-matchcom-using-fake-love-interest-ads-trick-consumers-paying https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/09/...

ericbarrett 4y ago

It's crazy, looking back, how the world has changed. Just a few decades ago, even a scam phone call was nearly unheard of, and it was national news when a few-million-dollar ponzi scheme blew up. Now? We're all playing Eve Online IRL: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Scams_in_EVE_Online https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Scams_in_EVE_Online

Apocryphon 4y ago
A few years ago the National Do-Not Call Registry seemed like it could actually make a difference.

iamben 4y ago

I think we're in a 'perfect storm' of fraud right now. Firstly, 'Reality TV' has become influencer culture. A lot of social media is you being bombarded with "look how great my life is" pictures. The newest sneakers, handbags, fancy cars, fancy watches. Young people with possessions. "This is what a good life is, this is what you could have." We spend a lot more time on social media than we did watching the TV. Secondly, we keep being told that 9-5 jobs are for suckers. That's what your parents did. Why work in an office for peanuts when those people you follow on Instagram get paid to dress up and take photos and go on fancy holidays? Every week there's an article about someone making 500k a month on OnlyFans, etc etc. Thirdly, a bunch of people have got wildly rich from cryptocurrency by being in the right place at the right time. Almost zero effort. You read about these people, and then you talk to your friends. Some of your friends tell you they've made 5 or 6k from a $500 investment in a coin with a dog's head on it and how easy it was. So now you have a large group of people who spent a long time on social media, don't want to work a 'proper' job but want to be rich and have the life that goes with it. They hear the stories about people who have actually got rich from crypto, quickly get caught up in Cryptotwitter (with the I've got $500 in bitcoin "have fun staying poor" folks telling them to get on the rocketship or miss out) and are now absolutely primed for the 'next Dogecoin' so they can get money for nothing. Of course the romance or student scams can happen, people will always fall for scams. But right now the crypto scam space has got to be like shooting fish in a barrel. It's like the get-rich-quick schemes we've alway had but on steroids.

mbg721 4y ago
> We spend a lot more time on social media than we did watching the TV. Is this actually true? When I was a kid, the amount of TV time was something of a moral panic; I'd have a hard time believing there were many more hours in the day left to consume. What I would believe is that social media's use of intermittent rewards makes people obsess about it even when they aren't actively using it.
- cguess 4y ago
  You didn't have TV in your pocket, in bed, at dinner, in the car, the moment you wake up, while waiting in the bathroom, literally every moment you're even approaching the possibility of being slightly bored. You didn't have the opportunity to broadcast yourself and get immediate validation for the broadcast. The rewards are the icing on an all-inclusive cake.