Ever since Bitcoin’s appearance in 2009, people around the globe have wanted to dip their toes into the crypto trading world. This is where online trading brokers came into play, offering clients crypto trading services. At the same time, crypto exchanges gave clients the possibility to purchase digital coins.
Due to cryptocurrency’s anonymity, fraudsters abused the market and defrauded many. There are numerous shapes and forms of crypto trading scams. You can fall victim on any step, from online investing to fake celebrity endorsements.
According to US FTC, there are over 6,800 reports of crypto scams in 2022. The fraud caused a loss of $1 billion. At the same time, Australian 2022 estimates show that customers lost over $240 million to crypto investment scams.
While the original idea behind cryptocurrencies was privacy and a decentralized system, customers need a way to protect themselves and their funds. And Mastercard has come up with a solution in the form of a Crypto Secure system.
Crypto Secure system is a tool for banks and other card issuers. It’s similar to CipherTrace, whose role is to show the connection between a crypto wallet and the dark market. Since Mastercard acquired CipherTrace last year, the two have worked together on building a more comprehensive system, Crypto Secure.
Crypto payment processors have color labels, from green signifying low-risk transactions to code red, implying high risk. On the platform dashboard, banks and card issuers will be able to see the color-coded transactions, showing the risk of the transaction. If a certain crypto merchant has been connected to criminal activities or dark markets or has numerous reports, it will show in the system.
The system itself won’t make a final decision on whether to accept or decline the transaction. Still, banks and card merchants will have the possibility to decline based on the correct information.
According to a Chainanalysis analytics report from 2021, $14 billion worth of cryptocurrencies were transferred to wallets with known criminal ties. That’s why CipherTrace and Crypto Secure will make a real difference for potential investors.
Mastercard already uses AI technology to recognize fraudulent fiat transactions. They implemented the same technology for monitoring crypto transactions. This functionality mainly applies to Bitcoin transfers but also other virtual currencies.
The company is already involved in the crypto market. It does so by providing technology and partnering with crypto exchanges to support buying, holding, and selling certain digital goods. This role will now expand, covering the security segment of crypto transactions.
Mastercard uses different identity solutions, crypto analytics, AML and KYC policies, and more to recognize fraudulent merchants. All this will make it easier for banks to decide whether to approve a certain transaction or not. It will also reduce the number of fraudulent transactions and prevent scammers from transferring digital coins easily.
If you find yourself a victim of crypto fraud, don’t hesitate to report it. While scammers want you to believe that you cannot do anything once they take your money, it’s quite the opposite. You can track and trace your digital coins with new technologies such as CipherTrace and Mastercard Crypto Secure.
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