One in three US crypto investors was a victim of theft: Kaspersky report
A study conducted by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky determined that approximately one-third of US crypto investors have had part of their holdings stolen by hackers.
Bad actors usually convince victims by luring them to visit a fake website or encouraging them to join a dubious investment platform.
“People have to take care to protect themselves”
Kaspersky surveyed 2,000 American adults to estimate that around 30% of those who have jumped on the crypto bandwagon had fallen victim to theft. The average value of the lost assets was nearly $100,000, while 15% of respondents admitted to having stolen tokens worth up to $1,000,000.
Bad actors mainly scam individuals via fraudulent websites or fake investment platforms, as the majority of victims were between the ages of 18-24. Only 8% of those older than 55 had any assets sucked for such reasons.
It’s worth noting that seniors haven’t embraced the asset class the way young people have. 36% of participants aged 25-44 admitted to owning some cryptocurrency, while only 10% of those aged 55+ were HODLers.
Marc Rivero – senior security researcher at Kaspersky’s global research and analysis team – claimed that the lack of comprehensive regulations had recently sparked a rise in cryptocurrency fraud. He advised people to be very careful when investing in the asset class and use sophisticated passwords to secure their money:
“Users should be very careful where they invest their money and keep an eye out for 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.”
The cyber security firm found that 19% of crypto 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 individuals surveyed have already purchased some amount of digital assets. Average respondents seem fairly patient, with most saying the last time they checked their investment was six weeks ago.
Another recent survey conducted by Coinbase Assumed that the percentage of Americans who have joined the crypto ecosystem is 20%.
The exchange claimed that adoption is higher among younger generations, such as Gen Z and Millennials, and people of color.
80% of the participants believe that the current global financial system is unfair, and 67% believe that necessary changes should be imposed. Coinbase claimed crypto could fuel such a monetary revolution, describing that troubled communities have already used it to solve “real problems:”
“On a global level, crypto offers faster, affordable cross-border transfers, and digital stablecoins help underbanked people around the world access US dollars and financial services to start a small business.”
