Shortly after Christmas, the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation began issuing consumer alerts with respect to possible cryptocurrency broker frauds.  These alerts generally involved alleged "Advance Fee", "Social Media" and/or "Romance" scams.  Information regarding these scam techniques is available here:

• Advance Fee Scams;
• Social Media Scams; 
• Romance Scams.

These alerts are sobering reading.  The alerts describe investors mortgaging their homes and borrowing money from relatives in the vain attempt to recover their funds.