A study by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky found that roughly a third of US crypto investors have been robbed by hackers.
Bad actors often trick victims by luring them into a fake website or urging them to join a dubious investment platform.
‘People need to take care of themselves to protect themselves’
kaspersky respondent 2,000 American adults to estimate that around 30% of those who jumped on the crypto bandwagon became victims of theft. The average value of lost assets was nearly $100,000, while 15% of respondents admitted parting with up to $1,000,000 worth of tokens.
Bad actors often scam people through fraudulent websites or fake investment platforms, as most of the victims were between the ages of 18-24. Only 8% of those over 55 years of age had any assets diverted for such reasons.
It’s worth noting that older people have not embraced the asset class the way younger people have. 36% of participants aged 25-44 admitted to owning some cryptocurrency, while only 10% of those 55 and older were HODLers.
Marc Rivero, a senior security researcher at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team, said that a lack of comprehensive regulations had recently led to an increase in cryptocurrency scams. He advised people to be extremely cautious when investing in the asset class and to use sophisticated passwords to secure their funds:
“Users should be very careful where they invest their money and be on the lookout for phishing scams and fake websites. They should employ any additional security measures that are available to them, such as multi-factor authentication, and they should use strong and unique passwords across all accounts.”
The cybersecurity firm found that 19% of cryptocurrency investors store their private keys on a PC/phone in plain text, while 14% have made no effort to protect their seed phrases.
Every fourth respondent is an investor
The study further estimated that 24% of all people surveyed have already purchased a certain amount of digital assets. Average respondents seem pretty patient, with most saying the last time they checked their investment was six weeks ago.
Another recent survey conducted by Coinbase My dear that the proportion of Americans who have joined the crypto ecosystem is 20%.
The exchange claimed that adoption is higher among younger generations, such as Generation Z and Millennials, and people of color.
80% of the participants think that the current global financial system is unfair and 67% believe that the necessary changes should be imposed. Coinbase claimed that cryptocurrencies could fuel such a monetary revolution, noting that troubled communities have already used them to solve “real world problems”:
“Globally, cryptocurrencies offer faster and lower-cost cross-border transfers, and digital stablecoins are helping the unbanked around the world gain access to the US dollar and financial services to help launch a small business.
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