What’s Behind the 43% Rise in Crypto Scams? “Pig Butchering” Takes Center Stage!
According to a new report by Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company, a scam known as “pig butchering” is on the rise. In this scam, victims are often lured into fake romantic relationships, where they are persuaded to make large investments. Once the money is invested, the scammers disappear. This year alone, scammers based in Myanmar have stolen $101.22 million using this tactic. Other scams, like address poisoning, drainers, and work-from-home schemes, are also becoming more common.
Scammers typically attract their victims through social media and dating apps like Tinder, Facebook, and Match.com. The report shows a 43% increase in these types of scams this year, with most of the stolen funds being transferred to wallets that were newly created in 2024. By comparison, only 30% of stolen funds went to wallets opened in 2022.
The duration of these scams is also changing. As technology advances, the lifespan of a typical scam is getting shorter, dropping from an average of 271 days to just 42 days. This reduction may be due to increased enforcement and stablecoin issuers blacklisting scam addresses.
Data from Immunefi supports the idea that criminal activity in the crypto market is decreasing, with losses dropping nearly twenty-fold in August compared to previous months. This decline is partly because no significant hacks have been reported in August so far. However, there was a notable exception in July, when the crypto exchange WazirX was hacked, resulting in a loss of $230 million.
