Cryptocurrency markets continues to be targeted by fraudsters. While law enforcement solves many incidents, even after time has passed, a significant portion of the grievances are forgotten. Many attacks, large and small, caused a loss of $5.6 billion in cryptocurrency markets in 2023. The FBI ranked the world countries in terms of the size of the losses and the number of complaints.
FBI 2023 Crypto Report
Financial fraud crimes cryptocurrencies existed before it came into our lives. In its latest report, the FBI draws attention to how sophisticated the attacks were while preparing a report card for the past year. FBI Director Christopher Wray wrote the following on the subject; A Prize Pool Worth 21 Million TL Awaits You from BinanceTR! Participating and winning has never been easier.. You can sign up to BinanceTR from this link. Get your first crypto!
“Cryptocurrency “Scams targeting investors using cryptocurrencies are rapidly increasing in severity and sophistication. The best way to help stop these crimes is for people to report them to the Internet Crime Center, even if they don’t experience any losses, so we can track their latest attack methods and more.”
FBI employees issued some warnings in the summary section of the report and listed the things to be careful about in order not to be victimized.
- Attackers will try to rush you with promises and make you panic.
- When a well-known company contacts you, try to verify its authenticity.
- No government official will encourage you to deposit money via a cryptocurrency ATM.
- Do not give your personal information to those who call or message you.
- Do not seek investment advice via video calls from people you do not know in real life.
- Scammers direct people to fake web addresses, and you should remain skeptical.
- If an investment opportunity sounds incredibly good, you shouldn’t believe it.
- Be wary of get-rich-quick schemes.
Ranking of Victim Countries
The table below, based on data from the FBI’s Internet Crimes Complaint Unit, shows us which country has the most victims. US citizens filed 57,762 complaints during 2023, with total losses reported at $4.809 billion. Canada comes in second.
The second region with the highest losses is the Cayman Islands, which is likely related to US citizens who were victims of companies operating in that region. 303 separate fraud complaints from Turkey reached the IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center) in 2023.
Another striking detail in the report is the type of attack (one-to-one). Attackers who approach people with promises of technical support and steal their cryptocurrencies represent 46% of the total crime rate. MetaMask The mentions or messages you receive after your shares mentioning X or the exchange name are from these attackers.
Investment fraud comes first in the list in terms of the methods used by fraudsters and attackers among all losses. SIM Swap The losses of $30 million are quite serious.
The last graph shared in the report for 2023 focuses on the size of complaints and losses. Here, the increase from year to year is striking.
The full report is available from the FBI from the website you can reach.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not contain investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should carry out their transactions in line with their own research.
