Online scam durations significantly shorten

Online scams commencing this year lasted for only 42 days on average, which is significantly lower from the average lifespan of 271 days for scams that began four years ago, according to CyberScoop.

However, more than 40% of all scam revenues have been directed to wallets that have been created during the past 12 months, the highest on record, indicating a substantial increase in new scam campaigns, a report from Chainalysis revealed. Threat actors’ transition to shorter campaigns have been brought upon by stronger online and on-chain infrastructure attribution, as well as the promise of increased long-term profits, noted Chainalysis Cybercrimes Research Lead Eric Jardine. “There’s no reason to recycle your on-chain infrastructure unless you’re worried about it being tagged, tracked and having that affect your ability to cash out, for example, or having it be traced back to a real-world identity, which is then going to result in arrests,” said Jardine.