A new survey has shown that one in three Americans has had an average of $97,583 in crypto stolen. And Generation Z users were the most exploited.
Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky surveyed 2,000 American adults in October 2022. One-third of respondents to the survey said they had been victims of crypto thefts.
While Gen-Z is believed to be a tech-savvy generation, shockingly 47% of the respondents aged 18-24 were lured by crypto scammers. In contrast, just 8% of respondents over 55 fell victim to crypto thefts.
The average value of the theft was $97,583, but 15% of the respondents lost crypto in the range of $100,001 to $1 million.
How to Protect Your Funds From Crypto Thefts?
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, keeping a close eye out for phishing scams and fake websites. They should employ any extra security measures that are available to them, such as multifactor 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 connect their wallets. Certain phishing websites drain out users’ assets when they connect their wallets.
To lure people, bad actors use social media spam campaigns in the name of airdrops, free mints, giveaways, whitelist access, etc. Before clicking on any link in social media platforms, users should verify if it’s from an official account. Scammers impersonate influencers and projects by creating fake accounts with a slight change in username.
The screenshot below shows how scammers use spam campaigns through bot accounts.
Users should write down their private keys on hard paper instead of storing them in a device that is often connected to the internet. Additionally, tools like Fire can alert users before they sign a DeFi transaction.
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