US Charges Five in Major $11M Cryptocurrency Fraud Case
2024-11-21

The surged adoption and usage of cryptocurrencies have become a bane for some and a boon for others. 
As per recent information, the US prospectors have charged five individuals accusing them of a group that reportedly hacked over dozens of individuals and businesses collectively resulting in a swipe away of $11 million in digital assets, and has also gathered crucial information.
In a statement dated November 20, 2024, the Attorney General’s Office of California, US, said that the defendant had allegedly sent bogus links over SMS to gather access to the asset and information.
As per the court filing, 29 individuals have lost data and information, yet a single investor was fooled, resulting in losses of around $6.3 million in cryptocurrencies. The majority of theft attempts were carried out after breaching the email and wallets of the identified victims.
It is worth noting that the identified victim has victimized around 45 crypto-based companies headquartered in India, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 
However, it was also noted that they tried to fool an employee of a leading centralized crypto exchange with a workplace in the US. As a matter of fact, the unnamed exchange employees were contacted by scammers using SMS, in those messages bad actors reportedly wrote that their wallets would be deactivated soon, to keep them working one should contact so and so several links to gain access again, which was redirecting victims to scammers protocol.Is the crypto industry ready to battle bad actors in the coming years? 
The surged adoption of blockchain-based currencies has helped the mainstream finance market to improve and advance, its popularity and usage have backed the concept of development of CBDC ( Central Bank Digital Currency). 
One important point is that surging prices and popularity have opened new paths for bad actors to gain huge profits in less time with massive efforts. 
Following the constant development and innovation in technology, scammers, fraudsters, and bad actors have developed new ways to defraud and victimize innocent investors. From the beginning of 2024 until the last quarter of this year, centralized categories remained the highest targeted by hackers, followed by DeFi. In more than a hundred theft attempts, the vast industry has lost more than $2 billion in cryptocurrencies. 
These issues have raised severe concerns over the security of users’ funds, information, and other details, which might damage the details and funds of any platform’s users and investors. 
Some companies have already fixed their bugs and loopholes and have been constantly working with experts to safeguard their users and their wealth over the platform. On the other hand, dozens of security firms have partnered with leading companies in order to organize bug bounty programs to help them secure their platforms.
Security experts argue after closely observing the situation and incidents that occurred that especially decentralized crypto service providers should focus on their smart contracts’ security features as it is becoming one of the most troubled while hacks and breaches.