The UK CPS expects cryptocurrency fraud to rise sharply in the country due to the rise in bitcoin rates.
The agency acknowledged that to date 86% of reported fraud cases are related to cyberspace in general, and not to digital assets. The situation was aggravated last year by the coronavirus pandemic, which forced ordinary citizens to switch to remote work, and scammers to “look for money” on the Internet. Between 2019 and 2020, the UK and Northern Ireland received 27,187 complaints from victims of online attackers, according to London police.
Of these, only 5,581 complaints were related to investments in cryptocurrencies, which accounts for a fifth of all reported incidents related to cybercrime. The total number of cases of fraud during that period was 822,276. These include fraud with payments, investments, fraud with bank cards and hacker attacks. Crypto-asset crimes account for only 0.6% of the total. This means that despite the rapid development of the cryptocurrency market, attackers have not yet fully mastered it, preferring to use traditional and well-studied methods.
However, the head of the public prosecution department of CPS Max Hill (Max Hill) said that in 2020 the number of cryptocurrency projects that defrauded users grew by 57%. Typically, the organizers of such cryptocurrency schemes promise potential investors “fabulous” profits with minimal or no risk. Hill expects the number of victims of cryptocurrency crimes to increase significantly in the coming years. This may be due to the rise in the bitcoin rate, in which even institutional investors have begun to show interest. Hill believes that the growth of the first cryptocurrency will “play into the hands” of scammers who will take the opportunity to lure as many naive investors as possible.
Recall that recently, the British police, with the assistance of Europol, arrested a group of criminals who stole fiat currencies and crypto assets worth $ 100 million.
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