Kaspersky: Crypto Asset Phishing Grows By 40 Percent

Phishing crypto assets has increased (photo: Kaspersky)

JAKARTA - In 2022 it was revealed that the number of phishing attacks related to crypto assets prevented by Kaspersky's anti-phishing system increased by 40 percent compared to the previous year, with more than 5 million attacks stopped.

However, reports from Kaspersky, traditional financial threats, such as banking and mobile malware, have actually declined. Because cybercriminals have turned their attention to new realms, including the crypto industry.

This increase in crypto phishing can partly be explained by the catastrophe in the crypto market that occurred last year. However, it remains unclear whether the trend will continue, and it will depend on user confidence in crypto assets.

While most crypto scams are traditional tricks such as giveaway scams or fake wallet phishing pages, recent active fraud schemes discovered by Kaspersky show that fraudsters are constantly discovering new techniques to ensure their success.

In this campaign, users received PDF files in English via email, stating that they were allegedly listed on the cryptocurrency cloud mining platform for a long time and had to immediately withdraw some crypto because their accounts were not active.

The file contains links to a fake mining platform. To pull crypto, users must fill out a form with personal information, including a card or account number, and pay a commission, in this case, via a crypto wallet or directly to the specified wallet address.

"Despite some of the problems that have occurred in the crypto asset market over the past six months, in the minds of many people, crypto is still a symbol of rapidly gaining wealth with minimal effort. Therefore, the flow of scammers taking advantage of this topic will never stop," said Olga Svistunova, security expert at Kaspersky.

According to Olga, to lure victims into their network, fraudsters continue to create new and more interesting scenarios.

In Southeast Asia (SEA), Kaspersky has been monitoring a slight decline in 2022 as a whole. Global cybersecurity firms observed 64,080 crypto phishing in the region last year, 15 percent lower than the 2021 figure.

The decline in crypto phishing was mainly detected in Singapore (74%), Thailand (51), and Vietnam (15%). However, this type of threat continues to increase in the Philippines (170%), Indonesia (+26%), and Malaysia (4%).