The education against crypto fraud seems to be bearing fruit in Africa as a report retrieved from Chainalysis, Blockchain forensics discovered that crypto players in Africa are less likely to fall victim to scam addresses than crypto traders located in other geopolitical zones.
Chainalysis revealed that the percentage of illicit crypto activity associated with scams isn’t as high in Africa as other regions around the world. Illicit cryptocurrency activity accounted for just 2% of the region’s roughly $16 billion trading volume from July 2019 to June 2020. Scams accounted for 55% of this low level of illicit activity.
READ: Crypto: Why Tether became a U.S. dollar replacement for many Chinese
“People in many parts of Africa have fallen victim to financial scams common in the fiat world, such as pyramid schemes and other investment scams,” the report stated.
“While scams still make up a large portion of illicit cryptocurrency activity in Africa, the share isn’t as high as it is elsewhere.”
READ: What Nigerian banks consider before granting personal loans
Why it might be happening
Recall that Nairametrics in recent times has reinforced its readers with vital insights on how to stay ahead of crypto fraudsters, by revealing their strategies, and in most cases, offering solutions on how to keep crypto-assets safe from the hands of fraudsters.
Billions of dollars have been lost through the ignorance of people who are new to the cryptocurrency market to crypto scammers.
READ: Crypto-Scammers stole $24 million worth of BTCs in 2020
How to protect your cryptos
Nairametrics recommends that the best way to safeguard your crypto in the case of Bitcoin, depends on how you protect your private key, which is a 256-bit number that unlocks a BTC wallet. That sensitive data should be protected with care by all means, preferably offline or through a proprietary secured online wallet system.
You need your private keys to have access to your BTCs, so if you allow your BTC wallet to be compromised by having malware on your system, going through unsecured web pages, or responding to phishing scams, cybercriminals can spend your bitcoins, or you can lose your BTCs.
READ: $30 billion worth of BTCs disappears forever
Using cold wallets or a proprietary smartphone is recommended. These are specifically designed tools to keep your bitcoin from falling into the hands of hackers on the internet.
Next time you are thinking of investing your funds in a bitcoin fund or firm, consider the promised returns versus the performance of the cryptocurrency market. An investment fund cannot promise 100% returns, while Bitcoin is only seeing 9% increases weekly.
