On a new report on criminal activitiesChainalysis reported that the lawful use of cryptocurrencies is still vastly greater than the illicit. That is, although the number of crimes has been growing, common commercial transactions are vastly greater with cryptocurrencies. In recent years, billions of dollars have been transacted between traders and brokers. In addition, companies began to accept payments with digital currencies, facilitating consumption by fans of decentralized technology. According to the report released last Wednesday (28), this lawful use of cryptocurrencies is precisely what attracts the attention of criminals. And contrary to what many may imagine, crimes involving cryptocurrencies are not fought only by large government agencies. According to the company that monitors the market, the fight against crimes in the sector has become increasingly common, including in small law enforcement agencies.
Illicit use of cryptocurrencies grows, and financial pyramids remain on the radar
Between 2017 and 2021, criminals managed to profit at least 26 billion dollars from their victims. Already in 2022, scammers profited another US$3.5 billion, with an average transfer from victims to criminals of US$1,000 per operation. That is, gradually crimes grow in the cryptocurrency market, affecting millions of people. Most of the victims, according to Chainalysis, are people who invested little in the sector. According to Dan Cartolin, account executive for North America and Latin America at Chainalysis, in Mexico the main problem is scams, especially pyramid and Ponzi schemes.
“These scams take advantage of an unregulated market and smaller or newer cryptocurrency exchanges that do not use proper AML controls on the blockchain. They see these startups as prime targets for money laundering.”
For the company, scams have become common all over the world, so it is possible that even the smallest police stations already register crimes of victimized populations in the sector. Estimates from the study believe that populations in emerging countries suffer more than in others.
Anyone can investigate crimes with blockchain analytics
To Livecoins, Chainalysis explained that, contrary to what many believe, it is not necessary to be an expert in cybercrime to investigate fraud in the sector. This is because, with some tools, an address of the criminal becomes known and, by sharing such information with investigators, it already facilitates a future judicial subpoena that leads to the capture of the scammer. Based on this simple information, for example, a brokerage firm may be required to reveal the owner of the address. From this point onwards, investigations are the same as those carried out by police agencies. In any case, even with the licit use of cryptocurrencies still being vastly superior to the illicit one, the company advocates training law enforcement officers in blockchain analysis. So local and regional agencies could successfully investigate these cases with the right tools, data and training. The practice contributes not only to compliance with the law, but also to providing greater confidence to users of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
