The Uruguayan Department of the Interior is taking steps to warn people about the risks of cryptocurrency scams. In this regard, a campaign entitled “Fake Coins: Cryptocurrencies Scams” was launched. The new policy was established by Uruguay in partnership with the European Union. Other Latin American countries also supported the initiative. In this way, governments seek to educate the population about the most common types of scams involving cryptocurrencies.
union against blows
More and more government bodies are becoming aware of the use of cryptocurrencies for illicit purposes. However, the increase in the use of these tools makes a ban unfeasible. Therefore, Latin American countries decided to use education as a tool to prevent coups. The Pact and [email protected] were the two agencies responsible for the campaign. The two organizations are formed by the union between countries of the European Union and Latin America, aiming at the fight against organized crime. But it was decided that cryptocurrencies should be part of that list.
“[O projeto busca] raise awareness of the main scams detected in cryptocurrency operations. In this way, citizens will be able to identify the scams and how the perpetrators proceed,” the document said.
Policy departments from 17 different countries are part of the initiative. In addition to Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and others are present. From Europe, Spain is part of the group.
Countries put fraud in the spotlight
The project uses various cryptocurrency projects and fake token names, defined as scams by the organization. These are models used as an example of suspicious behavior in this market. In addition, the campaign typifies these scams into different types, according to their characteristics. There are four types of scams identified by Fake Coins: scams through impersonation; seduction strokes; recruitment or financial pyramids; fake email promotions. The problem of cryptocurrency scams in Latin America has grown significantly with the popularization of cryptocurrencies. The survey places Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela as some of the most affected countries. In Brazil, cryptocurrency scams gained strength from 2018, but the law establishes too lenient penalties. Bill 4,401/2022, which regulates cryptocurrencies in Brazil, extends the penalty to two to six years in prison, plus a fine. It also establishes digital crimes as “fraud in the provision of services of virtual assets, securities or financial assets. However, the law is still seen as too lenient, especially because of the penalties.
New platform against scams
And it’s not just governments that seek to prevent and educate about crime. Cryptocurrency companies have also joined forces in this regard and launched a new fraud reporting platform. Titled Chainabuse, the platform emerged from the combined efforts of TRM Labs, Circle, Solana Foundation, The Aave Companies, Hedera, Binance and Civic. TRM Labs will be responsible for operating the platform, that is, it is not decentralized. On the other hand, there will be no charge for its use. Its purpose is to empower anyone to alert others to scams, attacks or other fraudulent activities.
The free tool allows crypto users, financial crime victims and crypto companies to take an active role in making the crypto ecosystem a safer place to operate.
Also Read: Here’s How To Get Free Tokens Also Read: Exchanges Want To Delist Litecoin After Update Also Read: IMF Provides ‘Technical Assistance’ To El Salvador To Compile Bitcoin Usage Statistics
