Recently, Smart Betting Guide released a report related to cryptocurrencies, stating that various fraudulent activities in the cryptocurrency industry began to surge in the first three months of 2024, with users suffering losses up to $437 million due to scams, rug pulls, hacker attacks, and other reasons. Furthermore, many smaller scams haven't been included in the statistics.
Among these, hacker attacks are relatively easier to quantify. The Ethereum blockchain was the main target, experiencing 33 attacks in just the first three months, averaging over ten hacker attacks per month. BNB was in second place, with 14 attacks, and Bitcoin was targeted only twice.
The best way to avoid these attacks is to enhance one's information security. This includes physically storing passwords and recovery phrases instead of keeping them on the cloud, as the cloud also poses leakage risks; try not to store cryptocurrencies on exchanges, even if it's more convenient, because exchanges are much more prone to attacks and risks.
Smart Betting Guide also specifically highlighted the risks of rug-pull scams. Rug pulls are schemes where founders and early investors attract a lot of newcomers by promoting and other means, and then suddenly sell off a substantial amount in the short term, causing the cryptocurrency's price to collapse. In such cases, investors end up paying a high price for a bunch of cryptocurrencies that they can neither sell nor hold any value, while the founders make a fortune and abscond with the money.
To avoid additional losses, it's essential to enhance one's security measures, including choosing reputable institutions and platforms, avoiding clicking on or downloading suspicious files, and not participating in unofficial so-called discount events.
