Fraudsters Received Almost $10 Billion: Which Crypto Systems Bring Them Most Profit?
In 2024, crypto scammers received at least $9.9 billion.The most common schemes remain Financial pyramid and romance scams, which continue to bring billions of dollars in revenue to fraudsters.
This was reported by analytics firm Chainalysis. Experts note that this amount may increase as new illegal addresses linked to financial fraud are identified throughout the year.
One of the most popular schemes remains high-yield investment fraud (HYIS), based on the principles of the financial pyramid. In 2024, this scheme is responsible for 50.2% of all funds received by fraudsters, although its share in the total fraud volume decreased by 36.6% compared to 2023.
At the same time, the so-called pig slaughter, also known as romance fraud, is becoming increasingly popular. Its share of the total fraud volume increased by 40% and reached 33.2%. In this scheme, attackers build trusting, often romantic relationships with victims and then convince them to invest in fictitious cryptocurrency platforms or fundsinvest.
Analysts note that fraudsters are actively using artificial intelligence to enhance their schemes. Generative neural networks help them create fake documents for verification on exchanges and financial services. According to Alterya, 85% of fraud cases involve accounts that traditional identity verification systems successfullybypass.
Most illegally obtained funds are transferred to centralized exchanges (CEX). However, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols are also actively used, including on the Ethereum, Tron and Solana blockchains. In addition, since mid-2023, the role of the Huione Guarantee platform has increased, facilitating not only money laundering, but also a wide range of illegal services forprovides crypto criminals.
Given the scale of fraud, financial regulators and analytics firms are stepping up their efforts to combat cryptocrime. They are using artificial intelligence and new methods to identify suspicious transactions and thus track illicit cash flows more effectively.
Although preliminary estimates indicate some decline in fraudsters' income in 2024, the actual numbers could be record-breaking. Analysts note an average growth of 24% in fraudulent revenue in the annual reporting period. Thus, losses to victims of crypto fraudsters could exceed $12 billion by the end of the year.
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