Russian transferred $ 1.2 million in three months to a fictitious cryptocurrency exchange

According to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Novgorod region, several people have suffered from the actions of cryptocurrency scammers since the beginning of this week. The largest loss amounted to RUB1.2 million.

Resident of the city of Borovichi, Novgorod region
interested advertising on the Internet about the possibility of earning additional income on the cryptocurrency exchange. To do this, he registered on the website of a pseudo-cryptocurrency company, and soon he was contacted by a “personal manager-consultant” of the virtual trading platform, who offered assistance in carrying out financial transactions.

Following the instructions received, the victim transferred various amounts from ₽96 to ₽380 thousand to the accounts of a fictitious cryptocurrency exchange for almost three months. When he decided to withdraw the “earned” cryptocurrency into rubles, the “consultant” convinced him that it was necessary to pay taxes and insurance first. After a resident of Borovichi contributed another ₽260 thousand, the attacker stopped communicating. In total, the victim transferred about RUB1.2 million to the scammers.

Simultaneously with the growing popularity of cryptoassets among the population and the growing use of blockchain in organizations and startups, the number of frauds and other crimes using cryptocurrencies is growing. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the number of registered crimes in the cryptoindustry in 2020 has increased fivefold. According to Clain Technologies analysts, at the end of 2020 Russia is the leader in the world of shadow cryptocurrency transactions with a share of 41.1%.