Despite the recent successes of the terrain, the cryptocurrency space continues to be a hunting ground for several scammers who have now devised several means to scam investors of their hard-earned capital. In a recent data released in January, the rate of scams executed in 2020 was almost 50% less than that of 2019.
However, the uprising of crypto scams has continued in 2021 again, which seems to be another breakout year for the cryptocurrency space. A new report from Europe’s criminal investigation body, Europol, has confirmed the arrest of scammers who have duped celebrities and crypto investors up to the tune of $100 million.
The hackers utilized sim swapping scheme to perpetrate their evil acts
The growing concerns of everyone affiliated with the cryptocurrency space concerning the high rate of crypto scams continue to be high. The malicious activities carried out by these scammers and hackers are presumably denting the image of the growing space.
In the Europol report, the scammer, which consists of ten individuals, have used sim swapping methods to scam their victims. The method of sim swapping used by the scammers means that they must have gotten illegal access to their victims’ phones by calling their network providers reassign the phone numbers to them, and manipulated several of their financial related passwords for their evil intentions.
In the report, the thousands of victims of the ten scammers include famous entertainment and sports celebrities. The report has also confirmed that eight of the ten gang scammers have been arrested now, with the remaining two facing Malta and Belgium charges. Europol also confirmed that it had spent about 12months in the investigation of several complaints in a bid to capture the criminals who are now facing trials for horrendous crimes.
Popular networks are facing the heat
Many popular phone networks have come under scrutiny for their aiding and abetting these crimes due to a lack of KYC. The fraud method of sim swapping has been one which has been relied upon by scammers of recent, and the general public believes that a lack of proper network security has allowed the scammers to thrive in their ordeals.
Last year, a popular investor Seth Shapiro sued giant network AT&T, claiming they had a role in the $1.8 million sim swap scam he suffered in 2019. The case is still undergoing trial, and Shapiro hopes justice is served. Analysts and the general public have beckoned upon several network service providers to improve KYC, network security, and overall service provision in a bid to cope with the recent increase in sim swap scams, believed to be aided by the lapses of the network.
However, the cryptocurrency space’s growing concerns towards the rise of crypto scams and several hacks are at the peak. Everyone will be hoping that the occurrences don’t tarnish the growth of the booming space.
