🏴‍☠️ Chainalysis Report: Top Cryptocurrency Scams of 2024

🏴‍☠️ Chainalysis Report: Top Cryptocurrency Scams of 2024

Chinese CSAM networks, "Pig Butchering," and much more. But *Ponzi schemes* are no longer in vogue.

🔼 “Big Game Hunting”: The average amount of cryptocurrency stolen in robberies has increased by nearly 80%. This is partly due to the rising value of *Bitcoin*, which accounted for 40% of the total transaction value related to these thefts. Additionally, criminals appear to be returning to their roots by targeting centralized exchanges more frequently, rather than focusing on DeFi protocols, which are less popular for BTC trading.

🔼 Given this trend, it’s no surprise that the average ransom demand from the most dangerous ransomware attacks has risen from just under $200,000 USD (in early 2023) to $1.5 million USD by mid-June 2024.

🔼 Sophisticated fraudsters, including IT specialists linked to North Korea 🇰🇵, who infiltrate crypto services, are increasingly using off-chain methods such as social engineering.

🔼 CSAM providers continue to use instant exchanges to cash out funds. Most wallet owners buy access for a month or longer, with access periods extending up to almost 20,000 days. One of the most "popular" sectors is child pornography, with the yuan being the primary currency for conversion to cryptocurrencies.

🔼 China’s 🇨🇳 share of global CSAM flows in the first quarter of 2024 was 38%. Most of the addresses emerged at the end of 2023.

🔼 Money laundering is conducted through platforms like Huione Guarantee, which is linked to the Cambodian conglomerate Huione Group. Since 2021, *“Huione”* has processed over $49 billion USD in cryptocurrency transactions. It has ties to the Russian exchange Garantex, which is sanctioned by OFAC, as well as with Chinese gambling and casino sites.

🔼 Pig Butchering is a type of scam involving both investments (often in cryptocurrencies) and romantic relationships. Just as pigs are fattened before being slaughtered, in Pig Butchering, scammers take their time, carefully grooming their victims for months. Many of these operations use shell companies to support larger fraudulent syndicates without being detected.

🔼 Scammers buy profiles on Facebook, Tinder, and Match.com from Chinese services.

🔼 The most notorious Pig Butchering complex is KK Park in Myanmar 🇲🇲.

🔼 At the bottom of the list are Zero-Day Attacks, which target unknown vulnerabilities in software, hardware, or firmware. They are effective but technically challenging, and therefore, not very common.

🔼 A Silver Lining: Since the beginning of the year, the total volume of illegal activity on the network has decreased by nearly 20%, suggesting that legitimate activity is growing faster than illegal activity. Specifically, the inflow of stolen funds has nearly doubled, from $857 million to $1.58 billion USD, while ransomware inflows have increased by about 2%. A bit of optimism, right?

#news #crypto #education #Asia #China

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