Fraud has become more important in the crypto industry as scammers believe that they cannot be traced while operating on the blockchain. Over the years, different sectors have increased the number of scams but a recent survey has focused on investors who lost money to these crypto scams and found that the most tech-savvy generation is the worst hit.
Gen Z Has Lost Most Of The Scammers
A recent report from Kaspersky has revealed that Gen Z (those born in the late 1990s to early 2000s) is the most exploited group when it comes to crypto fraud. In a survey that included 2,000 American respondents, 24% admitted that they invested in the crypto market and 47% of individuals aged 18-24 said that they had stolen cryptocurrencies at some point.
This is in stark contrast to the 8% of older investors, age 55 and above, who said their crypto was stolen at some point. However, it is important to note that young people are more likely to invest in crypto, thus increasing their exposure to fraud.
It is evident from the findings of the survey that shows that 36% of the respondents who are between the ages of 25-44 said that they have crypto assets. Meanwhile, only 10% of all respondents aged 55 and above stated that they invested in the crypto industry.
Finally, about 33% of all respondents who have invested in crypto assets say they have had their crypto stolen at some point. Furthermore, one-third of respondents also said that they fell for scam websites and investment scams, in some cases leading to identity theft and compromised payment details.
Total market cap resting above $1 trillion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com
How Crypto Investors Protect Their Assets
Kaspersky’s survey went further to find out how these investors are storing cryptocurrencies. Of the 47% who said they had invested in crypto assets, 29% said they wrote down their seed phrase and private key on paper and 34% said they used two-factor authentication (2FA) to protect their exchange accounts.
25% say they store their seed phrase/private key in a password management solution, 18% say it’s in plain text on their phone or PC, 18% say it’s in an archive with their password on their phone or PC, and 17% use it. third party software.
Below is a visual representation of Kaspersky’s findings showing how investors are securing (or not securing) cryptocurrencies.
Almost half of crypto investors have fallen victim to scam | Source: Kaspersky
Marc Rivero, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team advises investors to “use additional security measures available to them, such as multi-factor authentication, and must use strong and unique passwords for all accounts.”