$5.6 billion. 

That's how much money was separated from its rightful owners in cryptocurrency in 2023. The figure is almost double what was lost in 2022, the year before. And it's a pretty crazy number, if you think about it, since 2023 very much still the last crypto winter. So, how in the world did so much money separate hands from so many people, at least in the U.S.?

Low-Tech Attacks

It would be easy to immediately go to nefarious bots that drain a person's digital wallet as soon as they clock on a commit button or web page trigger, but, in reality, the majority of the losses seems to be more associated with good old fashioned grifting, taking advantage of the fact that there are a lot of lonely people who want attention, including many who should be smart enough to know better.

Yes, the primary pathway for stealing was convincing people to continue to keep pumping their crypto into all sorts of outlandish ideas, from love and dating sites, to fast investment opportunities via social media. While there were a few big splashes, such as Ripple's CEO getting hacked, by and large very little high-end technology was used. Instead, apps and websites were the primary tool for engagement, with seemingly promising rewards that were, gosh, all too true-looking online. In the meantime, the scammers were milking their target's crypto out consistently, draining anything useful and not being picky about what they took.

Worse, some of the scams double-attacked victims, offering to help them get back what was already stolen if they paid for the help. In effect, they ended up getting hacked twice!

While the government is very good at documenting the losses, and it designs a very nice-looking report to sum up the damage, practically nothing is being done to actually stop the theft. Further, instead of focusing on the real problems, much of government still continues to be hitched to either regulating crypto in general or somehow tying it to the upcoming Presidential election. 

We can't make this stuff up.