Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has detected more than than ane,500 fraudulent entities targeting potential crypto investors and miners just in the commencement one-half of 2022.

Kaspersky's research shows that 0.60% of users from Due south African countries take already been targeted by malicious crypto miners. The report besides suggests that the most common methods of duping unwary users involved faux advertisements claiming to sell mining equipment and fake websites posing every bit crypto exchanges.

Kaspersky's information based on anonymized statistics revealed that 0.85% of crypto investors from Republic of kenya and 0.71% Nigerians were targets of crypto-miner malware, while investors from Ethiopia (3.68%) and Rwanda (3.22%) faced the most number of threats in this regard. Bethwel Opil, Africa'due south enterprise sales manager at Kaspersky, warned that the low percentages exercise not mean that the threat is insignificant:

"Crypto-miner malware has been identified as one of the summit 3 malware families rife in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria at nowadays, which we believe emphasises that as cryptocurrency continues to gain momentum, more than users volition likely be targeted."

The report as well suggests that the most common methods of duping unwary crypto investors involve false advertisements challenge to sell mining equipment and fake websites posing as crypto exchanges.

These fraudulent platforms crave users to make an upfront payment under the pretext of advanced payment or verification, after which the scammers stop responding. Cybercriminals likewise brand utilise of phishing platforms to gain access to users' private keys of their crypto wallets. Alexey Marchenko, head of content filtering methods evolution at Kaspersky, said:

"Both those who want to invest or mine cryptocurrency and simply the holders of such funds can discover themselves on the fraudsters' radar."

Related: S Africa to revise national policy position on cryptocurrency

Dorsum in June 2022, Due south Africas Intergovernmental Fintech Working Grouping (IFWG) established a roadmap for defining the continent'due south regulatory framework for handling crypto avails.

The IFWG also highlighted the inherent hazard and volatility of investing in cryptocurrency and shared 25 regulatory recommendations against Anti-Money Laundering, terror financing and market manipulation.