Chainalysis said that cryptocurrency wallets associated with fraud received $ 9.9 billion of cryptocurrency in 2024, in accordance with initial estimates
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It is estimated that revenues from cryptographic fraud have achieved a record level last year among violent romantic fraud, because cybercriminals use artificial intelligence and become more organized, warns the blockchain chain.
In a report published on Thursday, the company said that cryptographic wallets associated with fraud received $ 9.9 billion cryptocurrency in 2024, in accordance with its initial estimates. It predicts that the number of 2024 will increase to a record of $ 12.4 billion, because the chain identifies more fraud wallets.
Chainalysis added that his annual estimates regarding fraud increased by an average of 24% between the periods of annual reporting from 2020.
According to the report from 2024, the leading reason for the increase in revenues from fraud was an increase in the dissemination of romantic frauds, commonly known as “Świni slaughterhouses”.
Pig Butchering is a kind of investing or romance fraud in which fraud builds relationships with victims through social media or dating applications, intending to withdraw them thanks to the apparent investment possibilities.
The name “Slaughter of the Świni” results from the idea that fraudsters must first “cook” the victims with flattery and fabricated ties in front of the “butcher” or theft of their money.
More victims sent to slaughter
According to chainalysis, the revenues from the pigeon sculpture increased by almost 40% year on year, and the number of deposits for slim fraud increased almost 210% in the same period.
The company said that these various growth rates indicated the extension of the pool of victims, prioritizing more victims in exchange for smaller payments.
While the festive fraud of the pig comes mainly from the large relationships of fraud in Southeast Asia, there are signs that such fraud centers began to be more distributed geographically, the report said.
In December last year, the Agency for Nigeria's transplant announced the arrest of 792 people in the raid of the building in which the suspects were believed to conduct romantic fraud, which directed people mainly from Europe and America, according to America, according to the Americas Reuters.
Romantic fraud often relies on the victims of human trafficking to fraud. Some Investigation by Propublica In 2022, it was presented how Chinese criminal syndicates were commercial victims of centers in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, forcing them to perform cyberphain under the threat of violence.
While these frauds of fraud are often known for running fraud related to the slaughter of the pig, they also act as rallies of other types of fraud that can be conducted via the Internet, according to Eric Heintz, a global analyst from the International Mission of Justice, which is quoted in the chain report.
“It often happens that many criminal groups acting in the same relationship focusing on various fraud,” he added.
The fraudster ecosystem “professionalizes”
According to Chainalysis, the dynamics of many criminal groups acting in a relationship also materialized online by creating illegal cryptographic markets and networks.
First of all, this trend was powered by Hionione Guaranture, an online forum and a peer-to-peer market, according to them, it acts as a “comprehensive store” for illegal actors who want to buy and sell fraud, infrastructure and resources.
The Chinese language platform is associated with the Hionione Group, a Cambodian conglomerate, which offers justified services, such as foreign cash messages, insurance, and in the past, even offers of luxury tourism.
According to chainalysis, Hionion's activity on blockchains indicates that it is strongly used to support the pig butcher industry and for illegal trade in products and services of fraud technology.
One of the main services hosted on the platform is laundering money, from which fraudsters use to hide their illegal activity, according to the data of chainalysis.
Meanwhile, some illegal products found on the site include targeted data lists, hosting services, social media accounts and AI software. In 2024, Hionione Fraud Sellers received at least $ 375.9 million cryptocurrency.
Since 2021, Hionion's warranty and suppliers have been advertising on their platforms, processed $ 70 billion in cryptographic transactions.
“In short, Hionione Guarantee led and enabled fraud, which is huge, growing and related,” said the company in its report.
Hionion's warranty did not respond to the CNBC inquiry.
In the event of a reservation on its website, the Platform claims that it does not participate in specific companies of its clients and is only responsible for guaranteeing payments between buyers and sellers, in accordance with the translation of CNBC in a Chinese -language statement.
Artificial intelligence facilitates fraud
In 2024, some of the most successful suppliers of the Hionione platform were AI service providers who recorded an increase in revenues by 1,900% year on year, according to the chain data.
This growth indicates an explosion in the use of AI generative technology to facilitate cryptocurrency fraud, which often attracts fraudsters using technology to impersonate others or generate realistic content that fools victim to make false investments.
The chainalysis report said that on Hionione guarantee that there are dozens of software that sales of this type of AI software.
According to Elada Fouksa, the head of the fraud products at Chainalysis and co -founder of the application with the detection of the Fragrance of Altet, which is cited in the report, generative artificial intelligence can be used to strengthen and scalp cryptocurrency frauds and crimes.
“Genai allows you to generate realistic false content, including websites and offers, supplying investment frauds, purchases and others, thanks to which these attacks are more convincing and more difficult to detect,” said Fouks.
Some Hionion providers even advertise “face changing services” for cryptocurrency worth USD 200.
From the moment the ChatgPT openai chatgpti is launched in 2022 Large companies lose millions of deep fraud. Such frauds use generative artificial intelligence to create synthetic and false identities and voices that allow fraudsters to impersonate real people and bypass the verification of identity
Chainalysis says that the potential of AI technology for scaling of cryptocurrency frauds exponentially increases the challenges related to the fight against these crimes.
The company said that the solution to cryptographic fraud will require permanent efforts of government agencies, regulatory bodies and organization.