A recent Senate hearing featured a cybersecurity professional who openly backed Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s proposed Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act. As the mover of the bill, Senator Warren has iterated the risks posed by cryptocurrency scams that target US senior citizens.
The awareness of the vulnerability of senior citizens falling into the cybercriminals’ tricks prompted the cybersecurity expert to endorse Senator Warren’s proposals to avert crypto-related scams in the future.
Senator Warren Warns of Complexity in Crypto Related Scams
The hearing saw Senator Warren belabor the increased crypto scams whose victims involve the vulnerable population. In particular, she cited 2022 statistics where crypto investment scams targeted at seniors grew by 350%.
The Democrat senator indicated that the crypto investment scams witnessed last year registered the biggest spike among all age groups. The surge translated to over $1 billion lost by the elderly citizens in the crypto scams.
The Senate hearing saw reputable cybersecurity and scams expert Steve Weisman offer input. He echoed Warren’s proposal by emphasizing that crypto-related scams, unlike credit card fraud, feature complexity.
Weisman described credit card fraud as one where one can swiftly identify, stop, and trace. Crypto poses greater complexity and lacks such transparency. He explained that crypto-related scammers often leverage mixers as conduits to erase the trace.
Using crypto mixers yields challenges to linking the digital assets to the crime. It portrays the legitimate privacy concern individuals may experience and hardly yields hints one can link to the scammers.
Crypto Related Scams Surge in Third Quarter
Weisman endorses the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act as the missing legislative solution to ensure cryptocurrency assets are subjected to the anti-money laundering provisions just as the traditional fiat currency. As such, the cybersecurity expert labeled Warren’s proposals as long overdue and declared the bill a no-brainer.
Weisman’s decision to endorse Senator Warren’s bill is informed by recent disclosures indicating the uptrend in crypto hacks and scams during the third quarter relative to 2022.
Weisman’s assertions of the surge in cyberattacks were collaborated by blockchain security firm Immunefi, which reported 153% in incidents that target Web3 and crypto projects in July- September 2023, unlike the corresponding period in 2022. Immunefi illustrated that the recent quarter featured $686 million in losses.
Warren’s Anti-Money Laundering Proposals for Crypto Secures Additional Endorsement
Senator Warren indicated that the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act is receiving support from fellow lawmakers. As such, she revealed that nine additional senators offered public endorsement for the proposals to bring crypto assets within the country’s anti-money laundering laws.
Warren hailed the support of Gary Peters, who sits in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC). Additional endorsement of the initiative was recently offered by Dick Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.