Or, you know we could just ban cryptocurrencies.
Before Bitcoin there was 'secret stock trading program that can make you millions!', a few of the scammers literally changed the name from stock trading to crypto trading with the same scam.
For anyone reading you should definitely read up on how these romance scams and finance scams work.
The main thing they try to do is create an emotional connection, because once you're emotionally involved it actually overrides your brains 'logical' side of things, as in emotion is in a different part of the brain and you'll ignore blatant logical issues when you're essentially in love or the deep end. It's interesting to read about at least.
And as another pointed out, this scam involved no actual crypto.
Yes, actually.
While a complete gift card ban is possibly not necessary, I do think there is a strong need to place legal limitations on their use and transferability to reduce or eliminate the degree to which they enable scammers.
Stores have done a little bit to try to combat this at the point of sale but it isn't nearly enough.
On the telephone side, I think we need to start holding phone companies liable if a spoofed number was used in a scam. It is ridiculous that they still haven't been able to solve that issue after years of effort and legistlation.
The Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security has means to enforce that kind of ban, like it has done in the past, and still does.
Banning it just ensures that law-abiding citizens can't use it for good while you solidify the market belongs to criminals. Who knows what the outcome for that will be, but if the war on drugs is any indicator, I'm not optimistic that would end up as a net positive for society.
While banning cryptocurrencies won't eliminate it, it would make it much less attractive for fraud, extortion and money laundering.
The war on drugs turned otherwise law abiding citizens into criminals. A ban on crypto wouldn't have the same effect nor would it have the effect of driving a behavior that should be treated as a mental health issue underground.
I am not sure a ban is the best solution, I am open to alternatives.