Not All Places Are Created Equal In Terms Of Crypto—How To Avoid Scams

Transacting inside The U.S. is pretty awesome.

I complain sometimes about the regulatory compliance which seems a bit much at times in this country, but it does allow us to transact on fairly risk free platforms.

Nothing beats peace of mind.

Not all countries are so fortunate though…..

According to a new report from Chainanalysis, Africa is the #1 hotspot for crypto related scams, followed by Europe in the #2 spot, with particular emphasis on Western Europe.

Here’s what the findings were:

Cryptocurrency payments to scams outpace ransomware jackpots in Eastern Europe, Chainalysis finds – CyberScoop https://t.co/uR7pYRZJdJ #crypto #cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/Xs9TBhR5Iu

— DAVID PREMIER (@davidpremier) September 1, 2021

『However, we believe that at least a portion of the ransomware funds labeled as traveling to Western Europe should likely be attributed to Eastern Europe.』

Eastern Europe’s Crypto Crime Landscape: Scams Dominate, Plus Significant Ransomware Activityhttps://t.co/uajqwUaQfh

— Autumn Good (@autumn_good_35) September 1, 2021

A comprehensive report was provided by Chainanalysis:

Addresses based in Eastern Europe have the second-highest rate of exposure to illicit addresses behind only Africa.

Keep in mind too that Eastern Europe has a much larger overall cryptocurrency economy than Africa, as well as Latin America, the third-ranked region for overall exposure to illicit activity. In fact, Eastern Europe is the only region with a total transaction volume of $400 million or more for which illicit activity makes up more than 0.5% of total cryptocurrency value sent and received.

In terms of raw value, Eastern Europe has sent the second most cryptocurrency of any region to illicit addresses, behind only Western Europe.

Africa is the new playground for #crypto scams and #moneylaundering. World’s biggest crypto scam in 2020 was perpetrated in SA by Mirror Trading International. Using a Ponzi scheme, hundreds of thousands of victims were swindled out of US$588m in #Bitcoin. https://t.co/YmNOAuABXa

— Theo Acheampong, PhD (@mytheoz) August 31, 2021

According to the Institute for Security Studies, Africa must prepare for the threats that come with digital currencies, notably crypto scams, organised crime and financial crimes such as money laundering or crypto laundering. pic.twitter.com/xnVMgV0Jdj

— Attorney General Alliance-Africa (@AGA_Africa) August 18, 2021

Daily Hodl dissected the report and notes:

The firm names Ukraine as the country which most visits crypto scam websites, surpassing the United States despite its modest population of roughly 44 million.

Chainalysis says that capturing the lion’s share of crypto-related scams is Finiko, a Russian-based company that was deemed a Ponzi scheme by the Russian central bank and saw its founder arrested in July. Finiko is alleged to have received over $1.5 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) through more than 800,000 separate deposits.

Finiko is one of nearly a dozen perpetrators Chainalysis identifies in a list of top 5 crypto scams within each region of the world.

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