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- 1 The terrorist group has increased reliance on Crypto significantly, for its fundraising activities, claims TRM Labs.
- 2 Certik’s report states Crypto scams accounted for the loss of $60 Million in May 2023.
According to TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence firm, the terrorist group significantly increased Crypto for its fundraising activities. The statements made by the firm are based on on-chain evidence.
The detailed report by TRM Labs notes that pro-ISIS groups in Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia regularly use Crypto for their illicit activities. Most transactions for these activities are in Tether (USDT) on Tron Network.
Earlier this month, a leading media outlet also pointed out that crypto transactions linked with illegal activities are increasing, with most criminals preferring to execute transactions in stablecoins.
The ISIS groups are using Crypto for recruiting criminals. A group received approximately 2 Million USDT in 2022.
Moreover, Chainalysis mentioned in its report published a month ago that criminal activities had reflected a steep decline of 65% in 2023. The firm separately reported that crypto criminals’ revenue degraded by 77% until the ongoing quarter of 2023.
Historically, scams and hacks follow price-rise episodes in the cryptocurrency market. From January 1 till July 10, scammers succeeded in wiping approximately $445 Million from the industry.
Increasing Prices Leading to Decreasing Crime in Crypto
Hackers celebrated their first day of 2023 by stealing Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency. Luke Dashjr, the Bitcoin core developer, posted on his official Twitter account that hackers illegally obtained his PGP key.
On February 2, BonqDAO, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), tweeted that “the Bonq protocol was exposed to an oracle hack,” where the exploiter increased the price of ALBT and minted tremendous amounts of BEUR.
Certik’s report states Crypto scams accounted for the loss of $60 Million in May 2023. Earlier in April, the loss was an estimated $103 Million.
Crypto scams are hurting investor confidence. By May this year, Crypto scams totalled $500 Million in losses.
According to computer security provider Kaspersky, crypto scams have become the most common way for scammers to become wealthy. As per the available data regarding crypto scams and frauds, North Korea tops the list, followed by Hong Kong among others.
Kaspersky, a Russia-based global cybersecurity and antivirus provider, has discovered that hackers/bad actors use Satacom downloader to install destructive extensions on Google Chrome, Brave, and Opera browsers. The installed extension enables hackers or scammers to wipe out cryptocurrencies from users.
Kaspersky claims that by using the malware, hackers can privately track all activities of crypto users on their web browsers. The extension offers and adds a wide variety of features and functions to the browser to lure users.
As per Kaspersky, 30,000 users were at risk in the last two months. Bad actors were able to evade the detection process and rob cryptocurrencies from the users of Kucoin, Coinbase, Huobi, and Bybit.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions stated by the author, or any people named in this article, are for informational ideas only and do not establish financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading crypto assets comes with a risk of financial loss.
Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.
