Crypto Fraud Costs More Than $200 Million This Year, U.K. Police Say

By Anna Peel for ValueWalk
Monday, October 18, 2021

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Fraud linked to cryptocurrencies surged in the first nine months of the year, UK Police said, with victims cheated out of more than 146 million pounds ($200 million) so far.

Crypto Fraud Is On The Rise

An expert comment from Ilia Kolochenko, Founder of ImmuniWeb, and a member of Europol Data Protection Experts Network: "Many inexperienced users are intimidated by fraudsters, who artfully deter litigation and prevent victims from filing complaints. For example, victims may first naively invest into a Ponzi scheme and later learn - from the organisers - that the entire venture was unlawful and, unless they take a risk to be prosecuted as co-conspirators, they get 5% of their initial investment as final compensation.

"Moreover, when people lose just a hundred dollars, for instance, in crowd-funding or when buying worthless NFTs, they are reluctant to file a criminal complaint or take legal action if scammers convincingly explain why they cannot get their money back.

"Worse, some of the fraudulent schemes may be legal as a matter of law, for example, when victims are expressly warned about high risks and uncertainty prior to paying the money. Online terms of service and contracts are usually governed by a foreign law thereby making litigation prohibitively expensive and time-consuming. Insurance companies frequently refuse covering cases where the victim may be even at infinitesimal fault. Given that crypto fever is now red-hot, we will probably see a further spike of defrauded victims with no viable means to get their money back. Would-be crypto buyers should carefully scrutinize the contract, ascertain that the seller is solvent and can be brought to court in their home state." Read Full Article