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Chainalysis: revenue for cryptocurrency scammers fell 33 percent as bitcoin prices plunged

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The average weekly revenue from cryptocurrency scams dropped from $4.2 million to below $2.9 million

According to BlockBeats, a report released last Friday by Chainalysis shows that bitcoin fraudsters' revenues, in dollar terms, have fallen 33 percent since the outbreak, according to BlockBeats.

Since the week of March 8, the average weekly earnings from cryptocurrency investment fraud and ponzi schemes -- the two most common forms of cryptocurrency crime -- have fallen from $4.2 million to less than $2.9 million. But the decline in revenue from such scams appears to be due not to fewer victims during the epidemic, but to the sharp decline in the value of bitcoin. "We found that this loss of value was almost entirely due to the fall in the price of the cryptocurrency. The scammers were still receiving the same amount or more from about the same number of victims every month." Chainalysis said in the report. "In short, while COVID 19 provides new fraud stories for phishing and extortion scammers to lure victims, the drop in cryptocurrency prices triggered by the epidemic has significantly reduced the revenues from the ponzi schemes and investment scams that make up most cryptocurrency fraud."

But now the encryption scam appears to be back in action. In early April, the number of personal transfers (payments to fraudsters) actually reached its highest level so far this year.