The concerted efforts of centralized exchanges deterred scammers who preyed on the elderly.
In a recent blog post, San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin cautioned against "senior fraud," noting that the elderly are the most vulnerable population to internet frauds.
Following an inquiry, the company's risk team discovered and restored $1 million in stolen Ethereum and Tether tokens to their rightful owners.
Okcoin's recovery of the stolen cryptocurrency
The investigation began with a tip from an 84-year-old user who contacted Okcoin for assistance after being defrauded in April.
“We were scammed and they cleaned out our meager savings. […] Without it we can’t make it. Please help us. Thank you.”
Investigations found that the user was one of several victims targeted by an international fraud ring. According to investigators, the group made more than $4.1 million from their operations.
Critics believe that cryptocurrencies are preferred by criminals owing of their pseudo-anonymous character. However, utilizing blockchain analysis, Okcoin was able to track the crooks' wallets in this situation.
When the fraudsters attempted to launder the stolen funds by transferring tokens to an unknown centralized body, everything came to a head. Although it is not directly stated in the document, centralized exchanges are in communication with one another and have agreed to freeze accounts suspected of illicit behavior.
The $1 million in ETH and USDT was eventually retrieved and refunded to the victims.
Scammers on the internet prey on the elderly.
Okcoin stated that scammers "routinely target the elderly owing to their lack of technological competence," using statistics from the FBI's 2021 elder fraud report.
According to the survey, those over the age of 60 are the most vulnerable age group, with the most scam instances and the biggest financial loss. People under the age of 20 had the fewest incidences and suffered the least financial loss.
“The FBI’s 2021 Elder Fraud Report showed that 92,371 Americans over the age of 60 were scammed in 2021, losing a combined $1.7 billion. This is a 74% increase in losses from 2020 and by far the most of any age group.”
The crypto exchange intended to spotlight the most typical manner the elderly fell victim, the tech support scam, in the hopes of addressing the issue.
Scammers impersonate employees of well-known IT companies such as Microsoft or Google in tech support frauds. They encourage the victim to install remote access software in order to resolve a non-existent problem.
Once installed, the fraudster has access to the victim's bank and email accounts. Okcoin suggests often checking in on elderly relatives.
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