Crypto scammers steal from UK residents £15,000 on average, TRM Labs says

Recent data revealed by TRM Labs shows U.K. residents have been losing £15,000 on average to crypto scams since October 2022, leading to regulatory and public awareness measures.

British residents have been losing on average under £15,000 (nearly $20,000) since October 2022, with the highest reported loss by a U.K. victim during the period exceeding £550,000 (~$706,000), new data revealed by TRM Labs shows.

Investment frauds constituted 16% of the reported cases, followed by phishing scams at 9%. Noteworthy, TRM Labs added that phishing scams predominantly occur on the Ethereum blockchain, accounting for over 90% of such incidents.

“Fraudsters will often use narratives to do with the metaverse, charities or trading gains to tempt victims into their schemes.”

TRM Labs

Another prevalent form of fraud leveraging crypto is romance fraud, commonly known as “pig butchering” scams, which rely on psychological manipulation to promise victims substantial returns on their investments.

As per TRM Labs data, once dirty funds are in motion, they are twice as likely to pass through unlicensed service providers compared to licensed ones. Analysts at the San Francisco-headquartered firm also noted that despite the prevalence of crypto scams, regulatory actions and public awareness efforts appear to be yielding positive outcomes, as indicated by a 16% reduction in global crypto-related fraud from 2022 to 2023.

Similarly, the British financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, reported a significant slowdown in the growth rate of investment fraud in fiat and crypto in 2023, with the number of victims increasing by only 4.3%, down from 28% in 2022.