Hackers Moves Gaze to Cryptocurrencies Leaving Card Payment Behind

The card payment industry is finally experiencing a reduction in the use of cards to perpetrate fraud as the attention is gradually shifting to cryptocurrencies.

According to a report, there has been a surge in the number of scams and attacks involving cryptocurrencies. Also, the amount of money lost in such scam operations has also risen drastically. 

Either as ransom or reward, most hackers request to be paid in digital currencies instead of fiat currency. 

Owing to the anonymous nature of the blockchain, the source of funds could be obfuscated and the identity of the trader hidden. Recovery of stolen funds becomes harder and almost impossible. Many of these hackers utilize this route as a safer means for the transfer of their loots or ransom. 

Based on the ScamWatch website report from 2021 where bitcoin (BTC) was the means of payment, crypto losses of over $84 million were recorded and reported to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). 

In the proceeding years, the losses were lower compared to 2021. In 2019, the digital market loss to network breaches, scam attacks, and other cyber theft methods involving crypto was pegged at $19 million, while in 2020, it was only $27 million.

Crypto Protocols Suffers Consistent Attacks

During the recent Nomad heist which claimed about $200 million in crypto, the firm on its own had offered to give 10% of the stolen funds to the hackers if they refund the cryptocurrencies to the wallets which were published. Although ‘whitehat’ hackers returned $32.6 million of the funds while 88% of the funds were assumed to be hijacked by copycats. 

Most times, these hackers launder the funds through crypto mixers like Tornado Cash which has been sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) over the laundering of about $7 billion.

This calls for the need for more regulatory strategies and licensing in the crypto industry, Recently, Denis Mihaqlovic Dubnikov a 29-year-old Russian citizen was indicted for laundering money linked to a ransomware attack that happened two years ago. In his case, he was not directly responsible for the malware but had assisted in laundering the funds from the Ryuk attack.