Crypto Scams: The 5 Most Common Scams

Online crypto frauds have decreased by around 50 percent in 2022. In terms of the amount of assets stolen, the sector is down $5 billion from a year earlier. Loud analysis report by Chainalysis, the damage last year was 5.9 billion US dollars. Five fraud methods played a particularly important role.

giveaways

In the case of so-called “giveaway scams”, fraudsters lure people with spectacular gifts. Mostly in the form of cryptocurrencies. In many cases, the criminals pose as other people or companies and announce, for example, a big raffle. Then, under false pretenses, they ask their victims to wire them funds. However, the promised consideration is never provided.

impersonation

In the case of impersonation, the perpetrators slip into the role of another person, authority or company. This method can be designed in different ways. For example, the criminals pretend to be employees of a well-known crypto company and send fake invoices or similar requests for payment.

Investment Scams

The lion’s share of the money stolen in 2022 is accounted for by this form of investment fraud. This includes, for example, the pump-and-dump method or so-called “Rug pulls“. One of these scams is encouraging investors to invest in a crypto token and then suddenly dumping their holdings. The top ten thefts fall into this category. In one case, $1.3 billion was stolen.

NFT scams

This type of scam involves tricking investors into investing in fake or nonexistent NFTs. Well-known or valuable collections are imitated.

Romance Scams

According to Chainalysis data, romance scams are among the most devastating scams. On average, victims lost about $15,000 to such scammers in the past year. After the scammers establish contact with their victims, they make them believe they are in love or have other feelings, and then demand financial support.

In the current BTC-ECHO Magazine we reported how a woman lost 120,000 euros through a romantic scammer.