Russian Central Bank Identifies Crypto Link In “Almost All” Financial Scams Detected In 2023
- Bank of Russia's report shows a 15.5% increase in financial scams with crypto elements in 2023, totaling 5,735 cases. - Scams primarily operate as small online pseudo-investment projects, often using social networks and Telegram for outreach. - Over 45% of scams encouraged the use of foreign payment services, and nearly 1,500 fraudulent projects accepted contributions in cryptocurrency. - The Bank of Russia has taken measures to restrict access to domains and subdomains used by illegal entities and recommended applying AML legislation to combat illegal activities. - The central bank has shared information about identified illegal participants and financial pyramids with law enforcement agencies, leading to over 125 criminal cases and over 620 administrative cases as of 2023.
