Submitted by nsscadmin on
If you live in Nova Scotia you may have noticed ads recently for an online crypto trading platform called NovaCrypto. Specifically, you may have seen ads like this:
We’ve got a secret to tell you. NovaCrypto.ca isn’t real. It was created by the Nova Scotia Securities Commission to teach and inform Nova Scotia investors about unregistered fraudulent crypto trading websites.
The Commission and other securities regulators regularly issue alerts and cautions about these fraudulent crypto trading websites. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre more than 50 percent of investment fraud reported in Canada since 2019 is connected to fraudulent crypto trading websites. At the Commission nearly 50% of all enforcement complaints we'eve recevied in the last year are related to fraudulent crypto trading websites.
To increase awareness of these fraudulent sites and to help investors learn how to recognize them we created NovaCrypto.
NovaCrypto mimics the fraudulent crypto trading websites that are stealing millions of dollars from investors each year. When building NovaCrypto, we examined several of these sites and copied their structure, text, language, and the red flags, including blatant typos Investors can look for these red flags to help identify fraudulent sites. You can visit NovaCrypto.ca to see how it resembles a fraudulent platform’s site.
To teach investors how to protect themselves, any link on NovaCrypto related to creating an account, depositing money, or downloading an app will direct the user to our reveal site housed on the Nova Scotia Securities Commission’s website. The reveal site tells the story of NovaCrypto and highlights the red flags that appear on the site to help users identify it as fraudulent and a scam. The reveal site also has links to educational content on crypto investing.
Now that you know about our NovaCrypto ruse we’d like your help to share it with everyone in Nova Scotia. The best protection against investment fraud, or any type of fraud, is education. The more people know about fraudulent crypto trading platforms and how to recognize them, the fewer will end up losing money to them. Please share the NovaCrypto website and the reveal site with your friends and family through your social media accounts.
To make it easy, follow the Commission on: Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube and share our NovaCrypto content.