What is fraud in crypto currency?

Ever since Bitcoin was invented, criminals have found cryptocurrency interesting because the technology behind it, called blockchain, can keep them somewhat anonymous. Particularly due to the high price increases in recent years, crypto coins are also very popular among the general public and many people achieve large profits by investing in crypto coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

Unfortunately, criminals use this new technology to use clever tricks to steal large amounts of cryptocurrency from others.

There are many forms of cryptocurrency fraud. Many with only English names. The most important are:

• Investment fraud . You receive an unsolicited call from an employee of an investment institution. They persuade you to invest in Bitcoins, because you want to benefit from the hype. You have lost your money and contacting us yourself is of course impossible.
• Fake Wallets and exchanges . Through phishing, you click on a link that seems trustworthy and you end up at a fake exchange where they try to obtain your private key.
• Rug Pull scam . The criminals introduce a new coin and invest a lot of money in an advertising campaign about this promising Alt-Coin. Many don't want to miss the boat and trust the criminals because they see the advertisements everywhere. Once everyone has invested, the criminals leave with the money and it is impossible to sell the alt-coin.
• Giveaway scam . You will receive an email or WhatsApp message that you can get an NFT for free somewhere. But before you can receive that NFT, they charge you a very small fee to confirm the correct public address the NFT should go to. After that small payment you receive nothing. 
• Romance scam . Through an online date you get into a relationship with someone who asks if you can transfer some money for a plane ticket. Of course, your date never shows up.
• Pump and Dump scam . The criminals put part of their money in a relatively unknown currency. With the other part they start an advertising campaign. Many don't want to miss the boat and want to participate in the winnings. After many have bought, the price may have increased tenfold. If the criminals have their investments there several times, they sell their investment in this unknown currency. The price then drops sharply and innocent gullible people are left with the losses.
• Ponzischemes . Using fake advertisements with famous Dutch people, they promise direct benefits and high profits. The first few times when the investment is still small, things go well, but later and you invest more, you no longer receive anything and the criminals run off with the money. What was happening in the background is that the first profits you received came from others who had also invested money.
• Cryptojacking . Using malware, criminals use the computing power of your phone or computer to mine mainly Bitcoin.

Tracking crypto payments

If you are a victim of one of these forms of fraud, we can certainly help you. 

The transactions are completely transparent and can be tracked. Criminals know this too and use all kinds of tricks to lose track. Consider, for example, the use of crypto mixers. tumblers. 

Because the police have insufficient resources and manpower, they can only handle a small portion of the reports. Major cases from large institutions and companies are given priority by the police.

We can help you trace the transactions and trace them to an exchange or other wallet that is publicly known. We can then contact the exchange to freeze the account. 

For the tracking of blockchain transactions we have partered with Crystal Blockchain Intelligence https://crystalblockchain.com/. Crystal not only allows us to easily find transactions across the different blockchains which are out there. Crystal also allows us to immediately contact the appropriate agency and contact person and submit a request to freeze the account.

Under upcoming legislation (MICA), the exchange is responsible for conducting its own investigation and taking action. At the same time, we can pass on the information to the police who will contact the exchange and try to recover the stolen money.