{"id":285967,"date":"2021-03-27T02:06:49","date_gmt":"2021-03-27T06:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/?p=285967"},"modified":"2021-08-03T13:43:41","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T17:43:41","slug":"crypto-scams-to-increase-by-75-percent-in-2021-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/news\/crypto-scams-to-increase-by-75-percent-in-2021-report","title":{"rendered":"Crypto Scams To Increase By 75 Percent in 2021: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
Top fraud prevention company Bolster released key findings in its recent Cryptocurrency Scam Report. The report, which cast real-life scenarios, shows the<\/a> relationship between the upsurge of crypto-related scams and the industry\u2019s meteoric growth.<\/p>\n According to the US technology firm, 400,000 crypto scams were documented in 2020 alone after an increase of 40% from 2019.<\/p>\n With cryptocurrencies still gaining notable traction and many homes suffering from the economic backlash occasioned by the pandemic, Bolster says crypto scams may climb to 75% in 2021.<\/p>\n Company CTO and co-founder Shashi Prakash said that crypto scams were among the fastest-growing criminal world categories. Prakash also said that as the nascent crypto industry grows, we are just at the start of a full-blown digital theft campaign. These crypto criminals are opportunistic and creating scams focused on trending crypto projects because they know these projects are generally new.<\/p>\n Crypto watchdog Chainalysis posted a similar report<\/a> on the growing field of virtual currency theft.<\/p>\n The document showed that the crypto scam industry was worth more than $2 billion and pointed to Bitcoin as a clear beacon for these criminals.<\/p>\n The basis for this is clear.<\/p>\n Bitcoin has singlehandedly brought the crypto industry from the backlight into public view.<\/p>\n The premier digital asset controlling more than 80% of the crypto market cap has seen institutional demand shoot up.<\/p>\n Popular tech companies like Tesla Inc., Square, MicroStrategy<\/a> are well-known Bitcoin hodlers.<\/p>\n Even financial instrument offerings are evolving around Bitcoin and Ethereum- another remarkable cryptocurrency. Digital assets investment firms like Grayscale, BlackRock are significant players in the Bitcoin-centered market.<\/p>\n Legacy financial institutions are also paying close attention to the crypto space. Now, talk of a state-sanctioned digital currency called central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are already making the rounds. CBDCs, which will be backed and issued by the host country\u2019s apex bank, aims to put a lid on private crypto ownership.<\/p>\n But just as the booming crypto space captivates the investing public, so are many bad actors looking to exploit the public’s knowledge gaps.<\/p>\n The Bolster document starts by noting that over 300 million websites were analyzed in the project. They targeted these searches towards cryptocurrency scams, and the touch-point was Bitcoin and other crypto-assets like Ethereum, Polkadot, Tether, Uniswap, and others.<\/p>\n The most recurring crypto scams in the last year were fake prizes, dubious giveaways, and sweepstakes, per the report. They were evenly matched with investment-related scams, advance fee schemes, and celebrity impersonations.<\/p>\n The criminals’ favorite crypto of choice were Bitcoin, ChainLink, and Ethereum. The top crypto exchanges these criminals used to launder their illicit wealth were Binance, Coinbase, and Gemini.<\/p>\n These Bitcoin exchanges were also subjected to malicious attacks by the criminal masterminds.<\/p>\n The report also said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, John McAfee, and Yusaku Maezawa were always impersonated to defraud unsuspecting victims of their crypto-assets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Crypto\u2019s Growth Attracting Criminals<\/h2>\n
Compelling Discoveries<\/h2>\n