Crypto scammers have already stolen $ 1.4 billion in 2020

On Tuesday, the blockchain analytics company said that in the first five months of 2020, scammersattackers and thieves have accumulated 1.36 billion dollars in cryptocurrency. CipherTrace results were published in a crypto money laundering and crime report in June 2020.

He estimated that as a result of this difficultThe year 2020 will be the second most expensive year in the history of crypto protection, after a record $ 4.5 billion in 2019, but is probably ahead of $ 1.7 billion in 2018, according to the company.

The results of this year are largely related to oneFraud: Wotoken. A large-scale Chinese multi-level marketing scheme stole $ 1.09 billion in 2018 and 2019, but they appeared only last month. CipherTrace reported the following cryptocurrencies that were stolen by Wotoken: 46,000 Bitcoin (BTC), 2040000 Ethereum (ETH), 292000 Litecoin (LTC), 56000 Bitcoin Cash (BTH) and 684000 EOS (EOS), which are still in circulation.

“It was a classic pyramid scheme,” said John Jeffries, chief financial analyst at CipherTrace. The alleged perpetrators of the scheme are now on trial in China.

The Wotoken pyramid scheme emphasizes thatthe continued increase in fraud is arguably the largest criminal threat in the world of cryptocurrencies, far exceeding the stolen value, from hacker attacks and thefts, which are only 2% according to CipherTrace in 2020. Last year, a large amount of loss of funds was also recorded due to fraudulent schemes than from hacker attacks and hacks.

What this trend means depends on howyou look at her. John Jeffries noted that this "demonstrates the maturity of the industry." The more exchanges strengthen their security systems, the less hackers find vulnerabilities of all kinds.

But fraud underscores the need for tighter regulation of the cryptocurrency business, said Jeffries.

“This is not just a defense against counteractionfinancing terrorism or protecting against money laundering, this is to protect uninformed consumers from themselves, ”said John Jeffries about cryptocurrency licensing regimes.

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