Cybersecurity firm ESET has recorded a 23.6% global decline in cryptocurrency threats from May to August 2021. However, the trend did not affect Russia, where scammers have shown a surge of interest in cryptocurrency holders, according to ForkLog.
Experts say that one in ten cryptocurrency-related fraud cases occur in Russia, with Peru in second place (6.8% of the total), followed by the United States (5.3%).
The main method of fraud is the creation of fake investment-platform websites, where potential crypto investors are lured by aggressive advertising tools, as well as scams leveraging the names of celebrities, say experts.
“New investors are asked to make a deposit or immediately spend a large sum on buying cryptocurrency. Holders of existing crypto wallets are urged to share their account credentials under the pretext of future profitability,” said Jiří Kropáč, head of threat discovery labs at ESET.
The main platforms for distributing malware to steal cryptocurrency or for hidden mining remain adult-content sites, free streaming portals, torrent sites, and thematic cryptocurrency forums.
According to data from Comparitech, in 2020 Russians lost $15.2 billion due to cybercrime attacks. This ranks fourth globally in losses from such actions by criminals.
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