{"id":1987,"date":"2021-02-03T00:14:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T04:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/?p=1987"},"modified":"2021-03-22T19:09:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T23:09:45","slug":"bitcoin-scams-are-the-worlds-other-continuing-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/03\/bitcoin-scams-are-the-worlds-other-continuing-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin Scams are the World&#8217;s Other Continuing Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"227\" src=\"https:\/\/bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020-scam-report-origins-300x227.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1988\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020-scam-report-origins-300x227.png 300w, https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020-scam-report-origins-1024x776.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020-scam-report-origins-768x582.png 768w, https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020-scam-report-origins-1536x1163.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2020-scam-report-origins.png 2004w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>2020 BitcoinWhosWho.com Scam Report Origins<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Based on the origins of Scam Reports received by BitcoinWhosWho.com in 2020, bitcoin scams are the world&#8217;s other continuing pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BitcoinWhosWho received Scam Reports from 149  countries in 2020. 25 countries originated at least 100 reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2>Top 5 Scam Report Locations (2020)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Scam Report Country of Origin<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>% of Reports<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>United States<\/td><td>31.56%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>United Kingdom<\/td><td>8.89%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Canada<\/td><td>5.43%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Philippines<\/td><td>3.60%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>South Africa<\/td><td>3.27%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption>BitcoinWhosWho.com Top 5 Countries Originating Bitcoin Scam Reports in 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Almost half (~46%) of scam victims were located in the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom. After the big three, the next 10 countries are the source of ~26% of all bitcoin Scam Reports:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Country of Origin<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>% of Reports<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Philippines<\/td><td>3.60%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>South Africa<\/td><td>3.27%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Germany<\/td><td>3.16%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Australia<\/td><td>2.88%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Netherlands<\/td><td>2.58%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>India<\/td><td>2.50%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Nigeria<\/td><td>2.31%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Japan<\/td><td>2.20%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>France<\/td><td>1.66%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Sweden<\/td><td>1.65%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption>Bitcoin scams are a global scourge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2>What do I do if law enforcement can&#8217;t help me with my crypto scam?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;ve been scammed out of a &#8220;small&#8221; amount of crypto (meaning USD$5,000 or less) learn from your mistake and walk away smarter. When the time is right, check out our <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinwhoswho.com\/legitbitcoin\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/bitcoinwhoswho.com\/legitbitcoin\/\" target=\"_blank\">Legit Bitcoin Investments<\/a> page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, even if you&#8217;ve been scammed out of a large amount of crypto, and wish to commit additional funds to pursue a legal case, law enforcement may still not be able to help due to their own resource and\/or legal jurisdiction restraints. This would be an infuriating situation if there wasn&#8217;t a growing private sector solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wondering what to do if you&#8217;ve lost a large amount of bitcoin? You should consider contacting a blockchain forensic expert, like one of our sponsors on: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinwhoswho.com\/recoverbitcoin\/\" target=\"_blank\">How do I Get Back Scammed Bitcoin?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re the victim of a bitcoin scam, the first step is to report the scam to your local law enforcement (below is a guide to reporting scams based on your country). The second step, if you&#8217;ve been the victim of a bitcoin scam, report the receiving address to BitcoinWhosWho.com by looking up the receiving address, clicking on the &#8220;Report Scam&#8221; button and filling out the form with all your information and any evidence. Every report helps the bitcoin community police and deter future frauds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>How to Report Crypto Scams in 30 Countries<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-3 wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-container-2 wp-block-column\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<div class=\"wp-container-1 wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-regular\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td>Jurisdiction<\/td><td>Link<\/td><td>Email<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>United States<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ic3.gov\/Home\/FileComplaint\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.ic3.gov\/Home\/FileComplaint<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>United Kingdom<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionfraud.police.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.actionfraud.police.uk\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Canada<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Philippines<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/acg.pnp.gov.ph\/main\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/acg.pnp.gov.ph\/main\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>South Africa<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saps.gov.za\/talk\/talk.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.saps.gov.za\/talk\/talk.php<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Germany<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.polizei.de\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.polizei.de\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Australia<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cyber.gov.au\/acsc\/report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.cyber.gov.au\/acsc\/report<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Netherlands<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politie.nl\/en\/contact\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.politie.nl\/en\/contact<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>India<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cybercrime.gov.in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.cybercrime.gov.in\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Nigeria<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/419coalition.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/419coalition.org\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Japan<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/japancompanytrust.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/japancompanytrust.org\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Japan<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/japanantifraud.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/japanantifraud.org\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>France<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.internet-signalement.gouv.fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.internet-signalement.gouv.fr\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Sweden<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/polisen.se\/en\/Languages\/Victims-of-Crime\/Make-a-report1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/polisen.se\/en\/Languages\/Victims-of-Crime\/Make-a-report1\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Romania<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politiaromana.ro\/ro\/petitii-online\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.politiaromana.ro\/ro\/petitii-online<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Austria<\/td><td><\/td><td>against-cybercrime@bmi.gv.at<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Belgium<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.policelocale.be\/zones\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.policelocale.be\/zones<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Bulgaria<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cybercrime.bg\/bg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.cybercrime.bg\/bg<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Croatia<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mup.hr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.mup.hr\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Cyprus<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/cybercrime.police.gov.cy\/police\/CyberCrime.nsf\/subscribe_en\/subscribe_en?OpenForm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/cybercrime.police.gov.cy\/police\/CyberCrime.nsf\/subscribe_en\/subscribe_en?OpenForm<\/a><\/td><td>cybercrime@police.gov.cy<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Czech Republic<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.policie.cz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.policie.cz\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Denmark<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politi.dk\/en\/Report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.politi.dk\/en\/Report\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Estonia<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/cyber.politsei.ee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/cyber.politsei.ee\/<\/a><\/td><td>cybercrime@politsei.ee<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Finland<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.poliisi.fi\/crimes\/reporting_an_offence_online\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.poliisi.fi\/crimes\/reporting_an_offence_online<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Greece<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.astynomia.gr\/index.php?option=ozo_content&amp;perform=view&amp;id=8194&amp;Itemid=378&amp;lang=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.astynomia.gr\/index.php?option=ozo_content&amp;perform=view&amp;id=8194&amp;Itemid=378&amp;lang=<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Hungary<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.police.hu\/ugyintezes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.police.hu\/ugyintezes<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Ireland<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.garda.ie\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.garda.ie\/en\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Italy<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.commissariatodips.it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.commissariatodips.it\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Latvia<\/td><td><\/td><td>kanc@vp.gov.lv<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Lithuania<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epolicija.lt\/en\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.epolicija.lt\/en\/home<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Luxembourg<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.police.public.lu\/fr\/commissariat-virtuel\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.police.public.lu\/fr\/commissariat-virtuel\/index.html<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Malta<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pulizija.gov.mt\/opres\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.pulizija.gov.mt\/opres\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Poland<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/policja.pl\/pol\/kontakt\/606,Kontakt.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/policja.pl\/pol\/kontakt\/606,Kontakt.html<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Portugal<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pj.pt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.pj.pt\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Spain<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gdt.guardiacivil.es\/webgdt\/pinformar.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.gdt.guardiacivil.es\/webgdt\/pinformar.php<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Slovenia<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.policija.si\/eng\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.policija.si\/eng\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption>Where to report crypto crimes by country<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Based on the origins of Scam Reports received by BitcoinWhosWho.com in 2020, bitcoin scams are the world&#8217;s other continuing pandemic. BitcoinWhosWho received Scam Reports from 149 countries in 2020. 25 countries originated at least 100 reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,62],"tags":[121,123],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1987"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1999,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions\/1999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitcoinwhoswho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}