Losses from crypto hacks, thefts, fraud and misappropriation totaled $681 million in the first seven months of this year, according to a report from crypto intelligence company CipherTrace.
Even if you store your crypto at one of the well-established exchanges, you might face a slog recovering your funds.
Of course, that won’t help if someone hacks your personal wallet — the software and sometimes hardware used to store crypto — rather than the exchange itself.
That means moving as much of it as possible into “cold” wallets that aren’t connected to the internet.
Any passwords related to your exchange account should be changed as soon as possible, says Andrew Gunn, senior threat intelligence analyst at ZeroFox.
If your exchange is larger and better known, you’re more likely to get some help.
Some countries don’t consider crypto to be an asset, Pezet says, reducing the odds of help from the authorities even further.
It’s unlikely a formal report will help in recovering stolen crypto, but it doesn’t hurt to have a case number or documentation.
For example, in the case of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, the FBI, with the help of tracing experts, was able to recover about $2.3 million of the $4.4 million paid in Bitcoin as ransom.