Crimes involving crypto have risen

[Lanatsa]

Anonymity is good until you lose your hard-earned money to some faceless character online, one way or the other the crypto market will have to open up to regulation.

There is no relation on being anonymous and losing money online, people loss money online because they lack knowledge about crypto, they fall for investment scam because of greediness, being anonymous is a gift for us since we can enjoy our full privacy, no one would want to comply with the KYC requirement so the exchange or the authority can spy us, but if that's the way to minimize the scams, we have no choice but to comply as we all want this crypto space to grow productively.

For people who do say those things.They haven't realized that even on traditional fiat system these frauds do exist the only matters here is that anonymous feature of crypto is being utilize to commit crime and a perfect recipe for those who do make frauds so theres no doubt that this would be also a good place for those scammers but overall this isn't different to fiat when it comes to crime making situation.

[jhongzjhong]

Sad but true many people using bitcoin on illegal activities because it's untraceable and safe to transacts without engaging it personally and it's been used mostly on drugs more often thru dark web. This crimes giving crypto a bad name to the industry and taking away good people who are using it for good ways.

It can be done without any traces when they've deal directly from wallets to wallets, this market can be a good place for illegal doers as they can facilitate each transactions directly from one wallet to another, most of those people who are looking for easy access will use this venue to have a hassle free business.

That is the fact on crypto space and very sad situation because they take advantage of it. Probably they will not trace on payment but I think the items that they bought when it is moving into another location there is a possibility it will be busted into the government authorities. I think we do some help, just report when we saw a scenario like this. However, this kind of crime has been existed even using fiat not only in crypto.

[guoyu78]

I guess we are using crypto and that has very minimal "ask it back" option involved so the scams are getting out of hand since they know they can't be forced to pay it back.

Let's assume for a second you want to scam someone in dollars, you ask them to "buy" something and when they do you don't give them that item they "bought", what would happen is that person will call for a chargeback and you will be left with less money than you even intended to steal because there is a cost of chargeback. This is why paypal is not liked by many merchants since anyone can claim chargeback even if they receive the item. Bitcoin or any other coin doesn't have that which creates a problem and that is why scams in crypto world is a lot easier and can be done in bulk because nobody can do anything to stop you.

[OrangeII]

sometimes, some people take advantage of bitcoin transactions that are very difficult to track, because it makes it easy for them to make transactions. I just read an article from Nytimes, which says that terrorists are starting to use bitcoin. you might be able to read it here

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/18/technology/terrorists-bitcoin.html

[jostorres]

crime will always be there, but it is true, if there are regulations from the government, it can at least reduce the number of crimes that occur. with the weak legal protection as it is today, it makes the perpetrators of crime seem free to move harming others

All that is needed is just for government to set up an agency specially with highly intelligent forces that will go after those scammers who think because cryptocurrency is anonymous, they can use the system to perpetrate evils.

Yes, satoshi is highly smart, but satoshi cannot be the only smartest person, we still have some smarter ones that will find a way to be able to still trace those scammers through their transaction, just that it will require highly intelligent security team, but then we need government to be willing to get involve in crypto, not like this one they keep fighting it often because of the little disadvantage it brings to them which this can also be control, and then we ourselves, if we really want regulation, are we ready for it? And are we ready to accept the rules?

[BITDV]

Now crimes involving crypto, before crypto come crimes involving money, before money come crimes involving gold / silver. Crime is crime, whatever methods it will be always crime, and crime always around us. There is no relation between crypto and crime, which means no crypto no crime.

Improvement on security is also researched by everyone, let say there is KYC to minimize money laundry, corruption, etc. Cold wallet, to store your crypto wealth offline and decentralized. Until now crypto researcher is still looking for the best way to make improvements and regulations.

Let say about "Regulation", many people don't agree with this one and better to say "If you want regulations so use traditional way / other methods". But in the other side those who say that also worry if their crypto wealth is not secure. IMO, it's too narrow minded if you think Regulations just like that.

Bit funny while decentralized with regulations, but it also needed

[Schirer]

This kind of information was also posted in news section of forum with correct references. Which OP also should have done here.

The main thing is that there is no real sources of this information. It is not clear how this information was calculated.

[spike420211]

In fact, these are statistics, as far as I know, in the middle-end of 2018. But then there was hype, and scam projects were much easier to deceive people.
Now the situation has changed quite a lot and theft of funds has become much less.

[reality18]

"Nearly 2.7 trillion won ($2.3 billion) have been lost to crimes involving cryptocurrency in the last two years, according to South Korean government data."

where do you see the improvements being made against crypto criminal activity. this can really hurt the price for traders/investors if conditions don't improve.

Interesting, such a huge amount. Cryptocurrency was not invented to support crime but bad people use it in a bad way. With the upcoming KYC and Anti-money Laundering required from cryptocurrency users on exchange platforms, there will be reduction is cryptocurrency associated crimes.

[Lanatsa]

In fact, these are statistics, as far as I know, in the middle-end of 2018. But then there was hype, and scam projects were much easier to deceive people.
Now the situation has changed quite a lot and theft of funds has become much less.

Yes,its lesser but the damage been done is still big where losing up multi or hundred millions of dollars because of exchange hacks and also to those  not reported ICO scams that do still exist as of today.

Its true that when that 2017 situation where the entire crypto market is being hyped up, lots of frauds and scams do happen thru ICO and all sorts of swindling like on Hyip/Ponzi sites.

[travwill]

Without regulation, this issue cannot be resolved. As we can see, the SEC continues its movement on cryptocurrency projects by filing a lawsuit for those who have committed crimes,
which means the figure announced above may well turn out to be less because some of the funds can be returned after some time.

[Georgfree]

"Nearly 2.7 trillion won ($2.3 billion) have been lost to crimes involving cryptocurrency in the last two years, according to South Korean government data."

where do you see the improvements being made against crypto criminal activity. this can really hurt the price for traders/investors if conditions don't improve.

If you look at the history, you can see that even because of the usual currency, huge financial crimes were committed. And cryptocurrency is currently little regulated and, accordingly, crime will exist.

[Distinctin]

Without regulation, this issue cannot be resolved. As we can see, the SEC continues its movement on cryptocurrency projects by filing a lawsuit for those who have committed crimes,
which means the figure announced above may well turn out to be less because some of the funds can be returned after some time.

Funds to be return, that's less likely to happen, maybe this people will go to jail but the money will not be return.
What the SEC are doing now is they are cracking the old scams, that is a good solution but there is a better solution to that, which is the prevention.

They should set a strict rules especially on crowd funding as most victims in the past came from that kind of fund raising, and hopefully it's not only the US who are strict when it comes to crypto regulation, but also the other countries.

[Distinctin]

Without regulation, this issue cannot be resolved. As we can see, the SEC continues its movement on cryptocurrency projects by filing a lawsuit for those who have committed crimes,
which means the figure announced above may well turn out to be less because some of the funds can be returned after some time.

Funds to be return, that's less likely to happen, maybe this people will go to jail but the money will not be return.
What the SEC are doing now is they are cracking the old scams, that is a good solution but there is a better solution to that, which is the prevention.

They should set a strict rules especially on crowd funding as most victims in the past came from that kind of fund raising, and hopefully it's not only the US who are strict when it comes to crypto regulation, but also the other countries.

I agree scam in the last few years involving ICO projects that collected millions of dollars from many people around the world are very alarming every government must imposed a high penalty if they try to runaway and left many investors many scammers are still at-large today and no case filed while the victims are still suffering financially.   

This is the sad truth of ICO in 2017.
Shocking no one, study finds almost 80 percent of ICOs are scams

That's definitely the reason why the market pump and resulted to a big correction in 2018, those scammers started to sell their assets after they saw the opportunity to get a good ROI. The last ICO success was only brought by the hype of BTC's  bull run, or should we say the FOMO.

Th first stages of ICO was good, we have a lot of legit projects that until now are still in exchange with good liquidity, but as it grows, scammers sees it an opportunity of them to ride and they had the success that time at the expense of the newbie investors who rush to invest without making a research.

[Vishnu.Reang]

This is the sad truth of ICO in 2017.
Shocking no one, study finds almost 80 percent of ICOs are scams

That's definitely the reason why the market pump and resulted to a big correction in 2018, those scammers started to sell their assets after they saw the opportunity to get a good ROI. The last ICO success was only brought by the hype of BTC's  bull run, or should we say the FOMO.

Th first stages of ICO was good, we have a lot of legit projects that until now are still in exchange with good liquidity, but as it grows, scammers sees it an opportunity of them to ride and they had the success that time at the expense of the newbie investors who rush to invest without making a research.

The Bitcoin community should also bear some amount of blame for these scams. The community did nothing when all these ICOs went on with their fund-raising campaigns, despite the shady intentions of the ICO promoters. The majority even opposed regulations. Even here at Bitcointalk, it is very easy to start ANN/Bounty threads, to advertise the ICOs.

[gantez]

2017 and last year was really a breeding year for ICO scam. It was really a time that scammers made money off people. It is unfortunate and I hope we don't experience such huge scam anymore.

[Vishnu.Reang]

In fact, these are statistics, as far as I know, in the middle-end of 2018. But then there was hype, and scam projects were much easier to deceive people.
Now the situation has changed quite a lot and theft of funds has become much less.

Not really. Every now and then, I am hearing about fake projects. The scammers have just turned to their attention to the IEOs from the ICOs. Even now there is no dearth of investors who are ready to invest in such shady projects without any proper research or study. In terms of absolute value, I would even say that the theft of funds have increased.

[Naida_BR]

In fact, these are statistics, as far as I know, in the middle-end of 2018. But then there was hype, and scam projects were much easier to deceive people.
Now the situation has changed quite a lot and theft of funds has become much less.

Not really. Every now and then, I am hearing about fake projects. The scammers have just turned to their attention to the IEOs from the ICOs. Even now there is no dearth of investors who are ready to invest in such shady projects without any proper research or study. In terms of absolute value, I would even say that the theft of funds have increased.

Fake project will always exist.
The fact is that now are eliminated very much compared to previous years. There are many mechanisms that ensure the validity of a project. If someone get scammed after all, then he totally deserves that.

[Janation]

2017 and last year was really a breeding year for ICO scam. It was really a time that scammers made money off people. It is unfortunate and I hope we don't experience such huge scam anymore.

Why do we need to blame this to these ICO scams?

I know that there are a lot of people wanting to earn money through people falling victim into scams and the reason why they are falling into these scams because we lack information, we lack knowledge about these sites. If we have the knowledge, if we have the information regarding these scams, these ploys they made, we will be able to prevent ourselves from being scammed.

[sinta23]

This is due to the fact that crypto has not yet been paid much attention by each country. and fraud under the guise of investment or Development projects up to now still cannot be overcome. while the greater demand for each country should provide an opinion on cryptocurrency that they must formulate rules so that people can feel comfortable