Americans lose an average of $97,583 to crypto theft

A new survey has shown that one in three Americans have had an average of $97,583 stolen in crypto. And Generation Z users were the most exploited.

Cyber ​​security firm Kaspersky surveyed 2,000 American adults in October 2022. A third of survey respondents said they had been victims of crypto theft.

While Gen-Z is believed to be a tech-savvy generation, a shocking 47% of respondents aged 18-24 were lured by crypto scammers. In contrast, only 8% of respondents over 55 fell victim to crypto theft.

The average value of the theft was $97,583, but 15% of respondents lost crypto ranging from $100,001 to $1 million.

How to protect your funds from crypto theft?

Marc Rivero, senior security researcher, advises: “From scams to malware to cryptojacking, there is a long list of threats lurking online to target cryptocurrencies. Users should be very careful where they invest their money and keep an eye with phishing scams and fake websites. They should use any additional security measures available to them, such as multi-factor authentication, and should use strong, unique passwords across all accounts.”

Tips for DeFi users

Decentralized finance (DeFi) users should be extra careful about where they link their wallets. Some phishing sites drain users’ assets when they connect to their wallet.

To lure people, bad actors use social media spam campaigns in the name of airdrops, free coins, giveaways, whitelist access, etc. Before clicking on a link in social media platforms, users should confirm whether it is from an official account. Scammers impersonate influencers and projects by creating fake accounts with a slight change in usernames.

The screenshot below shows how scammers use spam campaigns through bot accounts.

Users should write down their private keys on hard paper rather than storing them on a device that is often connected to the internet. In addition, tools like Fire can notify users before signing a DeFi transaction.

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