Highlights
- According to Chainalysis, cryptocurrencies held in illegal wallets rose by 79% to around US$14 billion in 2021.
- Gartner predicts 25% of people will spend at least an hour in Metaverse daily by 2026.
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data showed US$1.3 billion were embezzled in romance scams over the past five years.
Crypto scams are rising at an astonishing pace lately with the advent of Metaverse and Web3 internet. Research firm Gartner predicts that 25% of people globally will spend at least an hour in the Metaverse daily by 2026, suggesting the enormous risks posed by this growing trend.
According to blockchain research firm Chainalysis, cryptocurrencies held in illegal wallets rose by 79% to around US$14 billion in 2021, further underscoring the dangers. The figure almost doubled last year from US$7.8 billion stolen in scams in 2020, its data showed.
Between October 2020 and March 31, 2021, the number of complaints involving crypto scams reached roughly 7,000 with an estimated loss of US$80 million, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Consumer Sentinel Network, which tracks such cases.
As the cryptocurrency products are rolled out almost at regular intervals, so are the scams’ frequency and the growing value of the stolen assets. The scammers seemed to be having a field day robbing the unsuspecting, inexperienced victims entering the market.
Most people trying to enter the market have limited knowledge or access to experts who…
