According to the research company Chainalysis, scammers and cybercriminals were able to steal a whopping $ 7.7 billion worth of cryptocurrencies from their victims in 2021, which is 81% more than in 2020. At the same time, about $ 1.1 billion of this amount falls on one fraud scheme, which, according to the researchers, was aimed at residents of Russia and Ukraine.
Image source: Michael Wuensch / pixabay.com
Notably, the number of cryptocurrency transactions associated with fraudulent transactions fell from 10.7 million in 2020 to 4.1 million in 2021. This means that fewer people have suffered from cryptocurrency fraud, but they have suffered much more tangible losses.
The main scheme of deception in 2021 was the launch of new cryptocurrencies on the market, the creators of which then quickly disappear, taking investors' money with them. As an example, we can recall the Squid Game token dedicated to the Squid Game series. The scammers successfully embezzled $ 2.1 million. In 2021, such schemes accounted for 37% of all proceeds from theft of cryptocurrencies, which is about $ 2.8 billion. A year earlier, only 1% of deceived users suffered from one-day cryptocurrencies.
Chainalysis notes that the characteristics of investment fraudulent networks change over time. The number of active money-scam schemes has grown from 2052 last year to 3,300 this year, while the average duration of their activity has decreased from more than 500 days in 2016 to 291 days in 2020 and only 70 days in 2021. year. It is assumed that in the past, attackers could work much longer without attracting regulatory attention.
It is not surprising that losses from fraudulent transactions are growing along with the value of cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Bitcoin. Chainalysis notes that it is imperative to avoid new tokens that have not passed code audits. Code audit is the process by which a third-party firm analyzes the code of the smart contract underlying a new cryptocurrency project and publicly confirms that the currency rules do not contain mechanisms that would allow their developers to hide with investors' money.
The researchers state that investors should also be wary of tokens for which there is no publicly available material that can be expected from a legitimate project. Such materials include the website or official documents, as well as the real names of the people behind the cryptocurrency.
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