Crypto fraud increases by a third in Great Britain

The British crypto fraud rose by a third within one year, as police officers show, with criminal hundreds of millions steal from consumers.

The increase in the reported losses, which was received via an information request to the British police unit Action Ms.

Financial losses related to crypto, which Action Ms. reported from October 2021 to September 2022, amounted to £ 226 million - an increase of 32 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. The number of reports reported rose by 16 percent to 10.030.

The numbers are part of a broader "epidemic" of fraud, which according to the UK Finance, the trade association for financial services, has increased during pandemic when the financial habits of people shifted online. In general, in 2021, a year in 2021 rose by 8 percent to £ 1.3 billion.

in May, the month in which the so -called "StableCoin" collapsed Terra and affected a number of other cryptocurrencies and associated companies, losses of £ 33 million were reported.

According to the Pinsent Masons law firm, more and more victims have become victims of "RUG Pull" fraud since the value of cryptocurrencies has dropped sharply. These fraud contains crypto developers who give up a project and run away with the money of the investors.

Last November, the creators of a token promised access to an online game that is based on the popular Netflix show inkfish game steel estimated £ 2.5 million before it disappeared, the BBC.

HINESH SHAH, a forensic accountant at Pinsent Masons, said: “In difficult times, fraudsters always try to exploit less experienced investors by promising huge returns.

"In view of the enormous sums that some crypto investors made during the boom, fraud with cryptocurrencies can be particularly effective for smaller investors who may want to make" quick money "."

Other frequent frauds are fake recommendations from celebrities. According to the Federal Trade Commission, fraudsters who spent Elon Musk stolen millions of dollars of US consumers in cryptocurrency fraud last year, and the British police have warned that similar systems operate in Great Britain.

People are also victims of "pump-and-dump" fraud, in which criminals artificially inflate the price of a cryptocurrency before selling them to small investors shortly before the increase in value.

The Financial Conduct Authority has repeatedly expressed concerns about consumers who invest in risky investment classes. In August, the supervisory authority published guidelines for companies that promote this type of products and prohibits incentives such as "Werben Friends".

Several British banks have passed to limit or hire payments to cryptocurrency exchanges, and blame the high fraud rate of the past few months.

Digitalbank Starling did this last week as the youngest and tightened the restrictions for incoming and outgoing transactions in connection with cryptocurrencies. Despite potential advantages, the speculative systems are currently "highly risky and strong for criminal purposes".

The scandal about the failure of FTX has sent shock waves through other large players in space and left the price of cryptocurrencies in free fall. According to the data page, Bitcoin is traded at $ 16,500 compared to $ 54,500 a year ago.