Crypto Crime Plunges in First Half Even as Ransomware Attacks Jump – Chainalysis

Crypto crime overall plunged in the first half even as ransomware attacks jumped, says a Chainalysis report.

Crypto crime fell 65% in the first six months, driven mainly be a 77% decline in money earned from scams, said Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics company, in a July 12 report.  Crypto scammers took in nearly $3.3 billion less in the first half than they did a year earlier for a total of just over $1 billion, it said.

1/ Our Crypto Crime Mid-year Update is out! Here’s what we found:

📉Crime overall is down 65%
💸Scammers took $3.3B less YoY so far in 2023
📈Ransomware is on pace for its’ 2nd-biggest year ever

🧵Follow along for more on these👆key takeaways.https://t.co/Dvi8G6BcUB

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) July 12, 2023

Crypto Crime Via Ransomware Shifts to ‘Big Game Hunting’

Ransomware is the one type of crypto-based crime on the rise so far this year and is on pace for its second-biggest year, having extorted $449.1 million through June, the report said. That’s $176 million more than during the same period a year earlier, the report said.

One reason for the rise was a return of so-called ”big game hunting,” when deep-pocketed organizations are targeted by ransomware attackers, it said. But the number of small attacks also grew.

Declining gains from scams, almost always the highest-revenue form of cryptocurrency-based crime, is more notable than usual because it happened during a period when crypto prices rose, it said.

“Usually, positive price movements translate to higher scam revenue, likely because increased market exuberance and FOMO make victims more susceptible to scammers’ pitches,’’ the report said. “But 2023’s drastic scam decline bucks that long-standing trend.’’

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