Analytical and intelligence agency CipherTrace is noticing coronavirus-related crypto frauds surge in Q1, 2020, Reuters reports.
According to CipherTrace's statistic, crypto-focused scams and frauds succeeded to get almost $1.4 billion just within the first five months of the year.
CipherTrace CEO Dave Jevans says consumers, investors, and users continue to adopt cryptocurrency at a massive rate and it is by far the fastest-growing payment system on the planet.
"At one trillion dollars in annual payments, cryptocurrency payments have grown from zero to 7% in 10 years, making this volume of funds attractive to bad actors," Jevans added.
The main type of fraud, according to the agency, is social engineering, through which bad actors can access private information and demand ransom in bitcoin.
In March, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the regulator of the country's derivatives markets, warned that scammers are taking advantage of the COVID-19 crisis to steal cryptos.
In a statement shared on March 19, the CFTC warned users that scammers usually take advantage of events that grab users' attention, such as the coronavirus epidemic, to increase the credibility of their schemes or manipulate emotions.
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