Scammers Stole $ 4.3 billion in Cryptocurrencies in 2019

The results of a study conducted by CipherTrace show that in 2019 scammers were able to steal a total of more than $ 4.3 billion from users and cryptocurrency companies.

It is reported that this year, hackers managed to steal $ 480 million from cryptocurrency exchanges, and in the first quarter losses of trading floors from the actions of fraudsters amounted to $ 124 million. The closest PlusToken scheme was the biggest business – the participants in this pyramid lost $ 2.9 billion.

Analysts say criminals typically use bitcoin to buy drugs, weapons, and banking information. Other cryptocurrencies, such as ETH, LTC, XMR, BCH, and DOGE, are also often used for these purposes.

“The results of the study show that anonymous cryptocurrencies are rarely used on the black market. So, only 4% of transactions in such markets were carried out using Monero (XMR). Bitcoin remains the leader on the black market – 76% of transactions are made using the first cryptocurrency. The ETC coin is also quite popular – 7% of transactions, ”the researchers emphasized.

In addition, it is noted that ransomware viruses demanded a ransom in bitcoins in 98% of recorded cases, and only in 1% of cases – on the air.

Recall that, as previously reported, the loss of the cryptocurrency industry in the first quarter of 2019 amounted to $ 1.2 billion.