Consumers misplaced greater than $5.6 billion (roughly Rs. 47,029 crore) final 12 months by way of cryptocurrency-related fraud, in keeping with an estimate from the US Federal Bureau of Investigations — a forty five % leap from 2022.
The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center obtained practically 69,500 complaints from shoppers within the US and overseas final 12 months, in keeping with a report printed Monday.
While the variety of cryptocurrency-related complaints represented about 10 % of the overall variety of monetary fraud complaints, related losses added as much as virtually 50 % of the overall losses, in keeping with the report.
Following a crypto market downturn in 2022, token costs started to rally final 12 months, triggering renewed curiosity from criminals. Bitcoin greater than doubled final 12 months, and has risen about 35 % in 2024.
“As the usage of cryptocurrency within the international monetary system continues to develop, so too does its use by legal actors,” Michael Nordwall, assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division, wrote within the report.
Use of cryptocurrency by criminals was most pervasive in funding scams, the place losses accounted for nearly 71 % of the overall, in keeping with the report. Call heart frauds, equivalent to authorities impersonation scams, accounted for about 10 % of cryptocurrency losses.
© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.
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