CipherTrace: Amid pandemic, crypto crime surges in first five months

Coronavirus-inspired fraud generally took place by luring victims off legitimate platforms into chat rooms where payment in bitcoin can be requested, CipherTrace said. — Reuters

NEW YORK: Crypto intelligence company CipherTrace, which started tracking cryptocurrency crime a few years ago, said it has started to see coronavirus-related frauds that require some form of digital currency payment.

Losses from cryptocurrency thefts, hacks, and frauds soared to nearly US$1.4bil (RM6bil) from the beginning of the year until the end of May, a report from CipherTrace showed.