Chainalysis: crypto fraud revenues fall by a third due to coronavirus

Analytics company Chainalysis reported a 33% drop in the income of cryptocurrency scammers during the pandemicCOVID-19.

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In the period from March 13 to the end of the month, the volumereceived by scammers on average per day of transactions fell by 61%. In early April, the indicator rose slightly above $ 400 thousand. In January, it reached almost $ 800 thousand.

The volume of transactions to scam addresses and the price of bitcoin in dollars. Source: Chainalysis.

Almost all of the criminal income in question falls into two categories of scam: investment fraud and pyramids (Ponzi schemes).

At the same time, the number of transactions to fraudsters even increased during the crisis, Chainalysis analysts said. The popularity of fraudulent schemes remains high.

The number of transactions to scammers addresses and the volumes of the cryptocurrency sent in dollars. Source: Chainalysis.

In addition, new types of them have appeared, associated withCOVID-19, including phishing scams exploiting people's fears about the spreading pandemic, and cryptocurrency extortion to combat the spread of the disease.

The company acknowledges that it is difficult to accurately determine how much the coronavirus affected the decline in the income of crypto fraudsters, and to what extent this is due to the fall in prices of digital assets in March.

Earlier, Chainalysis analysts noted that global panic due to coronavirus negatively affected the activity of darknet markets.