Total cryptocurrency fraud losses worldwide increased by 45% to over $5.6 billion last year, the highest on record, with the increase fueled by investment fraud, BleepingComputer reports.
Nearly $5 billion of the reported losses — which also stemmed from call center fraud, tech support scams, and government spoofing — were attributed to the U.S., with California, Texas, Florida, and New York having the highest damages across the country, a report from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center showed.
Other countries that led in terms of fraud losses included the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Canada, the UK, India, and Australia.
Further analysis revealed that fraud losses also emerged from pig butchering sites, liquidity mining scams, cryptocurrency recovery scams, and phony blockchain-based gaming apps. With record-high fraud losses last year, cryptocurrency wallet holders have been urged to defend themselves against scams by being vigilant of investment promises, verifying platforms' legitimacy, and monitoring wallet permissions.
