Cryptocurrency fraud volume reached at least $1 billion

From July 2020 to July 2021, the global volume of cyber extortion and crimes involving digital assets amounted to at least $1 billion. This is reported by Izvestia, citing data from Kaspersky Lab.

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The number of major ransomware-related attacks and extortion attempts exceeded 1,000 in 2021, according to company experts. The average ransom was around $250 000, but often rose to $5–10 million.

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Among the main reasons for the surge in extortionists are rising cryptocurrency prices and their growing popularity.

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Analysts estimate that in Russia the volume of crimes involving digital assets in 2021 reached about $50 million.

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The cryptocurrency exchange Binance answered 5,600 requests from law enforcement in 2021. Compared with 2020, this figure doubled, said Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

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Kaspersky Lab attributes the growth in law-enforcement requests to the increasing number of ransomware attacks, as well as to the entry into force in some countries of laws regulating the circulation of digital currencies.

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As reported by Ransomwhere, in 2021 more than $33 million in cryptocurrency was sent to addresses associated with ransomware.

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According to Cybersecurity Ventures’ estimates, in 2021 the damage from ransomware software is expected to reach $20 billion, and by 2031 will rise to about $265 billion.

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Earlier, ForkLog examined in detail what is behind the wave of hacker attacks and how it will affect Bitcoin.

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“Ransomware Pandemic”: what drives the wave of hacker attacks and how it will affect Bitcoin

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