California Attorney General Rob Bonta warns Gen Z faces a new wave of cryptocurrency scams spreading via TikTok, Instagram, Twitch and other online platforms as part of a broad effort to curb rising crypto fraud.

The advisory, anchored by a press release with the headline crypto scams are booming and the Attorney General Bonta clocks crypto conmen, urges residents to be vigilant about cryptocurrency-related scams and outlines high-risk schemes and red flags.

Bonta calls for public vigilance amid nationwide increases in crypto fraud and details several schemes to watch for, including deceptive investment platforms and manipulative smart contracts.

One highlighted scheme is the liquidity mining illusion, where fake dashboards promise passive income from fraudulent yield farming platforms and are followed by a malicious contract that drains wallets.

Public guidance emphasizes pausing for at least nine seconds before clicking links, engaging with unfamiliar accounts, or transferring money, and avoiding cryptocurrency ATMs for sending funds to strangers.

Officials stress vigilance and preventative steps, including avoiding Cryptocurrency ATMs and pausing before any online action or money transfer.

Crypto scams exploit the speed and anonymity of decentralized wallets and Bitcoin ATMs, enabling rapid, large-scale theft with funds that are hard to reverse or trace.

Victims are urged to report incidents to authorities, with warnings that cryptocurrency transactions can be rapid and difficult to reverse.

Rug pull scams lure participation through hype in online investment groups, inflate asset prices, and then dump when prices peak, leaving victims with losses.

Recovery fraud targets victims after a scam, with impostors posing as blockchain recovery experts or law enforcement demanding upfront fees to recover funds.

Second-target scams involve fraudsters posing as recovery specialists or officials who require upfront payments to retrieve stolen funds.

Legislation context: Senate Bill 1208, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, grants the OAG new tools to recover stolen cryptocurrency by allowing court petitions to return funds even when perpetrators operate outside US jurisdiction.