Mark Weaden
Latest seizure of £180m worth of cryptocurrency sparks concern after a string of crypto scams.
One of the things that has always haunted the cryptocurrency industry has been a public distrust in the reliability and safety of owning digital assets, coupled with the prevailing image that cryptocurrency is part of some underground community.
The London Metropolitan police seized a significant amount of cryptocurrency linked to money laundering. The money was seized last week, with the largest recorded amount confiscated just a few weeks before at the end of June, amounting to somewhere in the region of £140m.
The anonymity is one of the most attractive aspects of cryptocurrency. Equally, this is something that has attracted criminal organizations to move funds internationally.
The crypto space is still relatively new. With many users still uneducated about the importance of data protection, we’re seeing a lot of personal scams as well as bigger cases such as this seizure gathering a lot of media attention.
A report carried out by CipherTrace showed that in 2019 there was a record of $4.5 billion in cryptocurrency scam losses, which is an extraordinarily high figure. As is the case with any asset, there are always crooks out there looking to take advantage of the innocent.
Be aware of scams
We must admit, avoiding scams is mostly down to common sense. There are always measures to take to ensure you’re distancing yourself from any potential issues. From fake NFTs to Malware scams, there’s a growing number of things to look out for; below are some examples:
- Pump and dump scams
- Fake DeFi exchange platforms
- Illegitimate coins
- NFT Token scams
With each of these examples, it’s a case of doing your homework. Don’t rush into purchasing a new coin or ICO (Initial Coin Offering) until you’ve done the background work. We have spoken about the growth of the NFT market before, but we imagine scammers will ramp up their efforts in this aspect of the crypto space.
Manipulating and duplicating the hashtag codes of NFTs isn’t a new concept, but as crypto becomes more mainstream this may catch out novices and newcomers. Keep your eyes peeled for now.
