Main Topic: Scammers using technology to trick Americans out of money.
Key Points:
1. Reported consumer losses to fraud in 2022 reached $8.8 billion, a 30% increase from 2021.
2. Investment scams, including cryptocurrency schemes, accounted for the biggest losses, totaling over $3.8 billion.
3. Scammers target vulnerable individuals through various channels, including social media, text, phone, and email. Awareness of common scams and taking precautions can help protect against fraud.
CoinEx, a global cryptocurrency exchange, suffered a hack where large amounts of digital assets were stolen, with preliminary estimates suggesting a loss of around $43 million, possibly linked to the North Korean hacking group Lazarus.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has revealed accumulated losses of $100 billion in 2023, a situation that is expected to worsen for the Fed, but it may be a blessing in disguise for risk assets like Bitcoin. The losses are a result of interest payments on the Fed's debt surpassing its earnings, leading to concerns about the impact on interest rates and the demand for scarce assets like BTC.
The cyberattack on MGM Resorts in Las Vegas resulted in the company losing approximately $100 million, highlighting the significant financial impact major companies face when targeted by hackers.
A new report reveals that over $1 billion was lost in crypto this year, with $600 million lost in the last quarter due to an increase in successful hacks and specific events, highlighting a significant power law distribution in terms of the level of impact and loss.
Major crypto disasters in the past two years include SEC scrutiny of Binance, the collapse of FTX, bankruptcy filings from Celsius, BlockFi, Genesis, and Three Arrows Capital, and a $100 million settlement for Coinbase with New York regulators.
