Florida Government Warns Against Auto Warranty Scammers Asking For Crypto Payments

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FACS) has issued a warning sharing insights for identifying auto warranties marketed by robocall fraud.

Consumer complaints about an increase in robocall fraud (where scammers use pre-recorded calls to advertise and sell fraudulent services) have led the Bureau of Enforcement to order telephone companies to avoid transmitting robocall traffic .

Regardless of the methods scammers use to contact potential victims, the FACS newsletter highlighted five red flags that indicate fraud.

Highlighting some of the go-to payment methods often recommended by scammers, the announcement states:

“Payment Types: If you’re asked to pay with a gift card or cryptocurrency, it’s a scam.”

In addition to asking Florida residents to refrain from making cryptocurrency payments, the FACS reiterated that government officials would never ask for personal information such as social security numbers or credit card numbers, saying, “Only scammers can You’ll need that kind of payment, and once you send it, you probably won’t get it back.”

The newsletter said it would be impossible to trace crypto assets from hackers, but many companies, including Velodrome and Curve Finance, have been able to track down stolen funds thanks to the immutable nature of blockchain technology. has been successfully recovered.

Related: US lawmakers call on Mark Zuckerberg to tackle crypto fraud ‘breeding grounds’: report

US Congressman Brad Sherman, known as a cryptocurrency skeptic, acknowledged the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency ecosystem on September 5, arguing that banning cryptocurrencies is no longer an option.

Sherman said that political donations and crypto lobbying would make a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies impossible, adding:

“It wasn’t because we didn’t realize it was important that we banned it in the first place, nor because there is too much money and power behind it, so we still don’t.”

Most lawmakers, including Sherman, support implementing strict regulatory policies on crypto.