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While the recent popular focus of cybercrime organizations has been blockchain, a report revealed that $30 billion worth of crypto has been stolen since 2012. Volodymyr Nosov, Founder of the European cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBIT, underlined that Turkey is a leader in the region in adopting cryptocurrencies and said that Turkish investors have recently gained significant awareness of crypto security.

TURKEY - The rapid development of blockchain technologies and the decentralized nature of these technologies have made cryptocurrencies the focus of cybercriminals. While 2022 is known to be a record year for crypto theft with approximately $12 billion, the Crystal Hack and Fraud Report revealed a 10-year report card of cryptocurrency thefts. The 10 years of data analyzed revealed that cybercriminals have stolen $30 billion worth of cryptocurrency since 2012.

The report also ranked the countries most affected by crypto heists. Turkey ranked first in the list with losses of more than 2 billion dollars. Turkey was followed by Japan with a loss of approximately 1.4 billion dollars, China with more than 1 billion dollars, and Hong Kong with an investment of 586 million dollars. Volodymyr Nosov, CEO and Founder of WhiteBIT, underlined that Turkey is one of the leading countries in the region in terms of adopting cryptocurrencies, 

"Thanks to this, Turkish investors have recently gained an important awareness of crypto security. It is important for investors of all sizes to take individual security measures and trade on trusted platforms. In the cryptocurrency ecosystem, it is necessary to prefer cryptocurrency exchanges that offer Anti-Money Laundering (AML) solutions, require Know Your Customer (KYC) authentication and strengthen account security with two-factor authentication. AML and KYC solutions show that these exchanges are subject to local laws and comply with regulatory compliance."

The most common crypto crimes are "rugpull" and "phishing"

The compiled data also revealed the most common methods used by crypto hackers. Accordingly, "rugpull", which refers to the fraud scenario in which a group of fraudulent developers increase the value of their projects, stop trading and escape with the money they have obtained, was the most preferred method with a loss of $ 9.3 billion. Phishing attacks, which envision the theft of the victim's information through social engineering, were seen to have caused crypto theft worth $751 million in 10 years worldwide. 

The European exchange WhiteBIT, which has various measures in place against methods such as phishing and rugpull, also shared the fraud methods to watch out for. In phishing attacks, which usually use social engineering to impersonate trustworthy people, people are sent messages such as winning prizes from events they did not attend, being logged into their account by an organization, or profiting from transactions made using their account. The user who clicks on the links from these addresses is directed to a fake site that looks just like the real one and shares their information with hackers.

Crypto security tips for Turkish investors from global exchange 

In order to prevent fraud, centralized exchanges are also taking various measures to ensure the safety of their customers. For example, WhiteBIT, one of the largest European crypto exchanges, offers its customers the possibility to activate the anti-phishing function. As a confirmation of the authenticity of the messages, an alphanumeric password is specified to be attached to the letter, and if the user does not see this numeric password, they may realize that they are under a phishing attack. This function can be activated from the "Security" menu and using the "Anti-phishing" tab.

Underlining that all crypto investors should also be careful against Ponzi schemes, popularly known as Ponzi schemes, WhiteBIT listed its recommendations for users as follows:

It is important that users always actively use 2FA, i.e. two-step authentication methods, and that passwords used on other platforms are not used in financial systems. Account security is directly related to the password set when creating an account in the first place. AML, 2FA and a strong password constitute the first step in terms of user security.

Being sceptical of systems that promise high profits, checking the link address of websites and ensuring that the login page belongs to the site also ensure that the user can safely use crypto assets.
 
According to the exchange, which is the official cryptocurrency exchange of Trabzonspor and Barcelona Football Club, stores 96% of user assets in cold wallets and protects them with firewalls, works with world-renowned security solution providers such as Hacken.io and has certificates on security, it is important for all investors trading in asset markets to have knowledge about risk diversification.