Losses from crypto crime in the world reach 33,000 million

Up to 1.4 trillion euros evaporated last year in crypto market, submerged by a waterfall of bankruptcies and scandals. The volume is greater than the wealth that a country like Spain creates in a year. And these are not the only losses that the sector had to accept.

Criminals have committed all kinds of traps to seize around €33,000 million in 2022, according to a recent survey Chain analysis. The figure, its authors warn, is very conservative. And that is that many affected never come to condemn these alien friends.

According to his estimates, criminals have committed frauds worth about 5,500 million euros, thefts worth more than 3,500 million – most of them occurring in DeFi protocols and trading platforms -, fraudulent purchases for 1,400 million and about 22,150 million in money laundering. money from illegal activity. It’s not surprising, given that about 15 scams are launched every hour in this industry, according to a company specializing in the monitoring of crypto trading. Solidus Labs.

The most expensive for victims are those involving virtual romance (on average 14,500 euros). Criminals use contact networks like Tinder to launch bait. They create fake profiles and, once they gain the trust of the affected parties, sell them the benefits of investing in those assets or deposit them in fake companies. “They take advantage of the ignorance of people outside the crypto world, break into investment groups on Telegram, for example, and try to attract unwary people with bots. Equal to 100 fish two or three. They tell them to invest 200 or 300 euros, then send them a simulation in which they convince them that they have 4,000 and ask for more money to increase their profits,” he explains. Antonino Comesanavice president of the association Galician Blockchain and IoT Association (Agalbit). That’s him mode of operation more usual.

The second most expensive fraud for individuals, according to experts chain analysis, is what is committed by falsely representing a company or a well-known person (5,400 euros on average). In fact, the Internet Consumer Safety Bureau recently warned of a new scam that copies digital media covers and uses the image of well-known businessmen such as Amancio Ortega to promote these assets and trading platforms. which are not authorized by the supervisor (CNMV).

Despite the fact that criminal activity has increased, the loot, in the case of fraud, has halved in 2022. Why? virtual currencies like bitcoin They have lost 73% of their value since their peak in November 2021. However, criminals are still active, despite last year’s increase. Proof of this is that the amount of money laundered with crypto assets has increased by 68%.

“I lost 1,500 euros. I didn’t sign up out of shame »

Jesús met Ai (fictitious name) on Tinder, during the pandemic. The man from A Coruña and this supposed Japanese woman, dedicated to finance, immediately connected: “For three or four weeks we started talking about trips and other things. Everything was very normal,” he explains. He doesn’t know when they started talking about cryptocurrencies: “About more than a month later, the topic came up in conversation. He told me that he could advise me on how and when to buy and sell,” he reveals. Although he has no special training in this sector, he assures that he is up to date with the financial products that are sold: “I am not illiterate. I know how they work,” he explains.

Perhaps it was because of this false sense of security that he decided to go with the suggestion the young woman brought to the table: invest in hard and heavy money, the kind overseen by central banks. “At no point did I give money directly to her. He simply told me that he works with the Winsie trading platform, as a broker on the line». Ai directed his registration in the application step by step: «I put 1500 euros. To enter the platform you have to buy cryptocurrency, I put bitcoin, through any company that allows you to buy. Then transfer it to the account that this supposed broker opened,” explains Jesús. He had taken the bait.

When he got inside, he started betting his money on signals that were his senseiOh. “I was making money pretty quickly, five times my investment in just one month.” At least that’s what the app said. Then the young woman began to pressure him, asking Coruña to double his bet: «He told me I was foolish. That if I earned so much with so little, I can imagine what I could earn if I invested a lot more. Jesus thought about it. She began to doubt her supposed friend’s intentions. To make sure there was no catch, he told him he would withdraw part of the earnings. There he realized that something was wrong: “The platform did not allow me to withdraw money.” Then they told me that I had to pay 2,500 euros in advance to withdraw.

So he decided to play with the same weapon. He faked a screenshot of his account showing higher earnings than the real one and sent it to Ai: “He told me that if I was joking with him, that he didn’t make that deposit and that’s when I realized it was all a scam.” Jesus does not count on the return of those 1,500 euros: “I didn’t even report it. Partly because of shame, because of sin, and partly because the chances of getting that money back seem small to me to spend time on it,” he excuses himself. Others like him fell for the same scam and warn on the networks about the danger of trusting companies. offshorewhich are not based in countries with strong regulation and supervision.

Despite his experience, Jesús does not lose confidence in his skills as an investor: «Now I have cryptocurrencies in cold wallets (which are harder to usurp) for around 4,500 euros. I don’t have them on trading platforms. A good part of that money is deposited in Cardano – it has risen 15.5% in the last six months.