http://lyle.smu.edu/~tylerm/fc15.pdfAbstract
We present the first empirical analysis of Bitcoin-based scams: oper-
ations established with fraudulent intent. By amalgamating reports gathered by
voluntary vigilantes and tracked in online forums, we identify 192 scams and cat-
egorize them into four groups: Ponzi schemes, mining scams, scam wallets and
fraudulent exchanges. In 21% of the cases, we also found the associated Bitcoin
addresses, which enables us to track payments into and out of the scams. We find
that at least $11 million has been contributed to the scams from 13 000 distinct
victims. Furthermore, we present evidence that the most successful scams depend
on large contributions from a very small number of victims. Finally, we discuss
ways in which the scams could be countered.
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