Crypto Scammers Adapt to Crypto Winter, Switch Tactics to Romance and Giveaways

• Chainalysis recently revealed that crypto scammers adapted to the crypto winter by switching tactics from investment scams to romance and giveaway scams after Terra’s collapse.
• Data gathered by Chainalysis showed that romance scams attracted the highest average victim deposit size, at over $15,500 USD.
• The overall revenue from cryptocurrency scammers dropped from $10.9 billion in 2021 to $5.9 billion in 2022.

Crypto Scam Tactics

Chainalysis recently hosted a webinar that inspected crime trends in the crypto market during the crypto winter. The data gathered by Chainalysis revealed how scammers adapted to the developments and volatility of the crypto market, moving away from investment scams and employing romance and giveaway scams after Terra’s collapse.

Romance Scams Attract Highest Victim Deposits

Eric Jardine, the cybercrimes research lead at Chainalysis noted how scammers tackled the hesitancy to invest among investors by targeting their greed with free giveaway scams. As per the report, romance scams attracted the highest average victim deposit size, at over $15,500 USD while investment scams followed at a far second, duping victims of $995 USD on an average.

Multi-Level Marketing Scams Also Account for Significant Portion

Aside from the investment, romance and giveaway scams, multi-level marketing scams also accounted for a significant portion of the whopping $5.9 billion that was lost to crypto scam last year. Data gathered by Chainalysis revealed that approximately $1.3 billion of this amount was generated through hyperverse scam alone.

Overall Crypto Scam Revenue Dropped Significantly

Despite adapting tactics during this period of uncertainty within crypto markets, overall revenue from cryptocurrency scammers dropped markedly – 46% – in 2022 compared with 2021 figures; dropping from $10.9 billion in 2021 to just under half ($5.9bn) last year due largely to decreased investor confidence as well as reduced opportunities for fraudulent activity amidst such volatile market conditions..

Conclusion

The data gathered by Chainalysis highlighted how fraudsters have had no choice but to adapt their tactics throughout periods of market volatility such as those seen during this past year’s “crypto winter” when overall cryptocurrency scam revenue dropped significantly despite changes made by fraudsters operating within these markets