Crypto scam revenue was slashed by almost half in 2022 due mainly to falling crypto asset prices, but two scam types managed to stay immune. Crypto scam revenue in 2022, which includes investment scams, NFT scams and romance scams, among others, amounted to $5.9 billion in the year — down 46% from 2021. The data came from a Feb. 16 crime report from Chainalysis, which attributed most of the decline in scam revenue to poor market conditions, as lower crypto prices generally result in lower scam performance. Chainalysis however pointed to two different scam types that managed to stay relatively immune to the price falls — romance scams and giveaway scams. “Scam revenue throughout the year tracks almost perfectly with Bitcoin’s price, consistently maintaining a three-week lag between price moves and changes in revenue. However, not every distinct type of scam follows this pattern — some types of scams see revenue changes increase as crypto asset prices decrease,” explained the firm, adding: “For instance, unlike other kinds of scams, romance and giveaway scams don’t show a positive correlation with Bitcoin’s price.” Romance scams, while having lower overall revenue as a category, racked up the highest average victim deposit size in the year — with the average victim losing just under $16,000, nearly 3x more than the next biggest scam type.
Full report : Crypto scammers feel the chill: Revenue drops 46% in 2022 — Chainalysis.
