Numerous governments are attempting to ban cryptocurrencies, with recent examples from China, India, Turkey and Nigeria. The reason for doing so is simple: The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies poses a threat to the legacy financial system, and as the technology itself is still in its infancy, it seems to attract hackers. Even so, banning crypto will not dissuade hackers or scammers in the slightest. Hackers remain drawn to cryptocurrency Ever since the inception of cryptocurrency, hackers have shown an appetite for this form of money. The perceived appeal of being anonymous when receiving payments has created an aura of invincibility …

The decentralized finance ecosystem has been plagued by a variety of known scams and exploits for some time, with yet another coming in the form of what is known as a “soft rug.” Those that have been dabbling in DeFi for some time will be familiar with the term “rug pull.” This generally refers to the abandoning of a project by insiders or developers who remove liquidity from pools or vaults on decentralized exchanges and disappear with the funds. A related malfeasance to plague the emerging financial landscape is the “soft rug,” which is when a project’s founders simply dump …

Around 69,000 Bitcoin (BTC) has vanished from a South African investment platform along with two brothers who owned the crypto firm. Although the facts are yet to be proven in court, if it turns to be an exit scam rather than a hack, it would be the biggest in history according to Bloomberg. There were warning signs for investors either way, with users reportedly promised returns of up to 10% a day. AfriCrypt was founded in 2019 and operated by brothers Ameer and Raees Cajee. It had reportedly amassed around 54 billion rands worth of BTC, or $3.6 billion at …

According to a report from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, unregistered securities offerings represent more than half of all crypto fines handed out by U.S. regulators. In Elliptic’s June 21 Sanctions Compliance in Cryptocurrencies report, the firm's co-founder and Chief Scientist, Dr. Tom Robinson writes that U.S. regulators have handed out $2.5 billion in fines for crypto-related violations since 2014. Out of the total $2.5 billion, unregistered securities offerings accounted for $1.38 billion worth of penalties, or 55.19% of all fines dished out. Fraud was the second biggest crypto violation found in the report, accounting for 37.12% or $928 million worth …

United Kingdom-based financial institution TSB Banking Group Plc. will soon ban its over 5.4 million customers from buying Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. According to a report by The Telegraph on Saturday, the bank’s imminent crypto ban is due to alleged cases of fraud associated with cryptocurrency transactions. Bank TSB has reportedly received a plethora of complaints from customers about crypto-related fraud cases. Indeed, the U.K. bank says about 12.5% of payments to crypto exchange platforms involve transactions as against one in 5,500 for non-virtual currency-related transfers. Crypto exchange giant Binance has reportedly been linked to the rising number of …

The consequences of Ledger’s major data breach continue to be felt almost a year later. One contributor to the r/Ledgerwallet forum on Reddit, writing under the tag u/jjrand and self-identified as one of those affected by the breach, has posted images of what appears to be a fake Ledger Nano X wallet received in the mail. Wrapped in seemingly authentic packaging, the device nonetheless included several tell-tale signs that sparked the contributor’s suspicion. Most jarringly, the package came together with a poorly written letter claiming to be signed by Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier, telling its recipient: “For security purposes we …

You might not know Dreesus, but if you’ve been following crypto the last few months you’re likely familiar with his work. Following the launch of his Simple Cool Automatic Money ($SCAM) token, the pseudonymous developer garnered coverage from a seemingly endless list of mainstream and cryptomedia publications, including Vice, The Wall Street Journal, Benzinga, Mic, The Verge, The Week, and CNBC, among others. Launched in early May at the peak of the memecoin bubble, SCAM was part experiment — Dreesus had never launched a token before — and part an effort to make fun of other, overhyped shitcoin. However, in …

Victims of an alleged $3.6 billion crypto Ponzi scheme in South Korea are reportedly hampering the progress of a police investigation and a joint lawsuit — as they still believe in the project and hold out hopes of getting a return on their investments. On June 4, Korean law firm Daegon reportedly filed a joint complaint against V Global, its CEO, and three executives on behalf of 130 investors and the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency. The Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency is reportedly investigating V Global for an alleged crypto Ponzi scheme that reportedly defrauded around 69,000 people out of 4 …

As a tech-friendly region, Dubai is never short of new and promising projects, including crypto and blockchain, but the influx of new cryptocurrencies makes it harder for newcomers to distinguish shady campaigns from reliable ones. The Dubai Media Office announced that the authorities have never approved a digital currency named Dubai Coin, which saw a 1,000% jump when the project launched as “the official digital currency of Dubai” earlier this week. “It’s not the official cryptocurrency of the city,” the announcement warns. “The website promoting Dubai Coin is an elaborate phishing campaign that is designed to steal personal information from …

The U.K bank with the worst record for dealing with scam complaints has issued a cryptocurrency scam alert. NatWest, which was rated as the worst U.K bank for accurately discerning legitimate fraud complaints in 2020, sent the warning to users of its mobile banking app after it reportedly received a record number of scam reports between January and March 2021. The warning made particular note of one type of scam which involves hackers installing remote access software on a victim’s computer or hardware. The trick usually sees criminals winning a victim’s trust online, either by posing as an experienced trader, …

The United States Federal Trade Commission has found that crypto scammers’ profits spiked in the last two months, noting a surge in fraudulent impersonators posing as prominent figures associated with digital assets, such as Elon Musk. The findings report that cryptocurrency investment scams rose sharply in October 2020 as the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns deepened, with nearly 7,000 people reporting losses of more than $80 million to digital asset scams over the six months that followed. The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel notes many of the thefts arose from giveaway scams where con artists pose as celebrities or crypto …

Crypto wallet provider MetaMask has alerted its users of a new phishing bot that attempts to steal their seed phrases. In a tweet published Monday, MetaMask warned users that the bot attempts to direct users to a purported “instant support” portal where they are prompted to enter information into a Google Docs form. PHISHING ALERT!: a new type of phishing bot is becoming active. Comes from an account that looks “normal” (but few followers) Helpfully suggests filling out a support form on a major site like Google sheets (hard to block). Asks for your secret recovery phrase. pic.twitter.com/EeHumnmzbE — MetaMask …