Photo credit: Tara Winstead /Pexels

43% of the year-to-date scam inflows have gone to new wallets that became active this year as scammers are changing their tactics by focusing on targeted campaigns like pig butchering, according to a report from Chainalysis. 

After looking at the data, the report pointed out that scammers increasingly using new wallets to carry out their operations. The new wallets becoming active this year shows that there is a rise in new scams.  

The second part of the mid-year report published by Chainalysis on Aug. 29 highlights that the scam landscape is evolving as scammers are using sophisticated and advanced methods to manipulate their victims.  

Scammers are quickly changing their crypto wallets and addresses they use to make it harder for people to trace their activities. Moreover, these bad actors implement off-chain tactics like building fake websites and social media accounts to “conduct more devastating scams of shorter duration.

Although there is a surge in scam inflows reported in 2024, the average duration of these illegal activities has sharply decreased from 2020 to 2024. In 2020, the lifespan of scams lasted around 271 days, while in 2024, it is only 42 days.

Explaining the reason behind the decrease in the duration of scams, the report states that there has been a rise in pig butchering scams. This type of scam involves the scammer maintaining a fake relationship with the victim and encouraging them to invest in fraudulent crypto trading platforms.

Apart from the new wallets, 57% of the scam money has been transferred into wallets created before 2024. For instance, a large wallet linked to scams based in KK Park, a place in Myanmar known for pig butchering scams has been in operation since 2022 and has generated over $100 million in revenue in 2024 alone.

These large scam houses often purchase established profiles on various social media platforms from China to make their scam more convincing. The report claims that around $10.5 million were sent to these services from 2022 to 2024, with 178,000 deposits recorded. 

Earlier, Chainalysis had reported that the number of funds stolen in crypto heists has nearly doubled year-over-year, rising from $857 million to $1.5 billion by the end of July 2024.

Read more: Crypto heist fund nearly doubles from $857M to $1.5B: Chainalysis