PHOTO
In this photo illustration of the litecoin, ripple and ethereum cryptocurrency 'altcoins' sit arranged for a photograph on April 25, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images) Image used for illustrative purpose.
The number of crypto fraud and breaches surged 28% year-on-year in 2022, making it the worst year since 2012, according to CoinJournal research.
A total of 120 different incidents were reported last year, valued at $2.14 billion, compared to 96 in 2021.
The US was the most targeted nation, with 13 hacks and breaches since 2011. The most recent one was in July 2020, when hackers got into verified Twitter accounts and launched a fake donation campaign.
However, the most costly crypto scam was by Plus Token, where almost $3 billion worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) were stolen.
BowsCoin (BSC) was the most stolen coin last year, up 72 percent year-on-year to 50 incidents. The second most commonly stolen coin was ETH (33 incidents).
According to CoinJournal, the most common crypto attack was DeFi breaches, taking place 167 times, with losses touching nearly $4 million.
(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)
