Scams: Fuelling the Crypto Fire : A presentation by Scott Johnston, Chainalysis

In its 2021 Crypto Crime Report, Chainalysis, a leading blockchain analysis company, found that scams – ranging from Darknet market abuse, extortion, phishing to Ponzi schemes – continue to be the highest-grossing forms of cryptocurrency-based crime, bringing in around $2.7 billion to criminals.

Last year, scam-type crimes – especially fake investment schemes – were also affecting more individuals than ever before, with the number of separate payments to scam addresses rising from just over 5 to 7.3 million – a potential rise in victim numbers of more than 48%. Scams have always been big business for serious organised criminality, and the expansion of cryptocurrency usage has provided new options not only to make money, but to launder it too.In this session, we will be hearing from Scott Johnston, Head of Public Sector Outreach (EMEA) at Chainalysis, the company behind the report, who will provide a realistic and evidence-driven overview of where we are with crypto-linked scamming. Scott – a former UK police officer with 18 years’ experience investigating serious organised crime, money laundering and emerging crypto threats – will help participants understand what the headline figures mean in practice, learning about 2020’s most significant scam-related cases and the likely trends in the crypto crime ecosystem in 2021.

Scott will also explore how we can start to take ‘the fuel off the fire’, using blockchain analysis as a way to profile and track down scammers and identify new leads.