A large part of protecting your cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or other digital assets from being lost or stolen is understanding the common types of scams being used to take them. Phishing, vishing and smishing attacks are social engineering techniques that are often used by hackers who want access to the personal, financial or technical information that will allow them to steal your identity, your access or your digital assets. Phishing Phishing attacks are when hackers use email messages designed to trick you into clicking on a fraudulent link or confirming sensitive information, like your date of birth, seed words or wallet address. Hackers that use phishing attacks will often pose as trusted authority figures like police officers, government officials or even Asset Reality employees! They’ll often use urgent language and threats of negative consequences to force you to act quickly without thinking. Spear-fishing is a tailored method of phishing aimed at a speci...

  Avast Just like antivirus software, it’s important to do your own research before choosing a VPN to use with your own devices. If your privacy is particularly important to you, you may want a VPN that doesn’t track your browsing history or one that will protect your information against court orders as well as criminals. Many providers have a variety of introductory offers, free trials and additional features to entice people so make sure to read all of the small print carefully to avoid any potentially predatory agreements. Free software is usually free for a reason! For detailed comparisons, check out the best VPN services in 2022 from TechRadar or this guide to buying the best VPN from Which? Encrypt your Information You can easily protect your private information by using disposable encrypted email addresses when signing up for a new account. Many banks will even allow you to create a temporary virtual card for an additional layer of security when online shopping. These ...

  Report your lost or stolen cryptocurrencies, NFTs or other digital assets You will need to know your Transaction IDs to report your lost or stolen cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or other digital assets. This ID is a unique reference number used to identify specific transactions on the blockchain, acting as a receipt for the purchase. Since it doesn’t contain any personally identifiable information like your name, address or your private seed words, it can be safely shared with anyone - though we’d still recommend that you keep it to yourself as much as possible. If you want to find the ID for a specific fraudulent transaction, make a note of the date and time the payment was made; how much crypto was sent and any wallet addresses involved. Custodial Wallets A custodial wallet means the provider owns your private key and holds your assets in custody for you. If your transaction was made from a custodial wallet like Coinbase, Kraken or Bitpanda, the transaction I...

Report your lost or stolen cryptocurrencies, NFTs or other digital assets If you want to formally pursue the recovery of your lost or stolen cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or other digital assets, typically you will need to: (Optional) Collect Court-Approved Evidence  Engage Local Law Enforcement  In the absence of Law Enforcement, your only other option is to engage an experienced Crypto Crime Lawyer in your country of residence 1. (Optional) Collect Court-Approved Evidence: There are usually two steps involved with gathering court-approved evidence when pursuing the recovery of your funds.  The first step is a simple Summary Analysis that is conducted to determine where your funds went after they were lost or stolen. Fraudulent funds typically end up in one of three scenarios: • Scenario 1: a wallet we can identify - in which case Law Enforcement and/or a Lawyer can be engaged to support recovery  • Scenario 2: An anonymous wallet - in which case ...

  Asset Reality is delighted to announce a new partnership with Metamask, the world’s largest digital wallet provider. This partnership represents an industry-first approach to improving digital asset recovery around the world. Metamask is a non-custodial software that run’s on the user’s device, similar to a web browser. In January, they exceeded over 30 million monthly active users, making them the most popular Web3 wallet and browser globally. Just like a physical wallet in somebody’s back pocket, Metamask doesn’t have any access to users’ funds so the most important member of the security team is the user themselves.  Over the last few years, economic activity on web3 has grown exponentially. While this growth has attracted a number of highly innovative applications that will help redefine the future of financial services and the creator economy, it has also drawn the attention of online scammers and thieves. Due to the high number of users on the platform, Metamask is a c...

Asset Reality is proud to announce a new collaboration designed to help victims of crypto-related fraud overcome the unnecessary barriers they face within the justice system. Together with Grant Thornton UK LLP, Outer Temple Chambers, Rahman Ravelli and Sandton Capital, we have established a triage system to assess claims at the outset. A team of experts trained in investigation techniques and corporate intelligence will then examine the claims for merit and further legal assessment.  Successful claims will be assessed and financed on a portfolio basis by Sandton Capital. They’ve dedicated £50m towards crypto-related litigation cases and their new portfolio facilities will allow them to finance multiple claims at once that would otherwise not have been possible. Though crypto-related crime reached an all-time high last year, with fraudulent addresses receiving over $14 billion during 2021, cases brought before the courts are still shockingly low. This is largely because the majorit...

Asset Reality is pleased to announce that we’re expanding our network of FCA registered digital custodians through our new strategic partnership with Solidi, a leading crypto asset exchange and custody provider based in the UK. Solidi’s platform uses a secure cold storage system and multiple layers of security to fully safeguard any of the digital assets under their protection. Their cold storage vault has been operating flawlessly for over 7 years without incident, during which they’ve guarded hundreds of millions of crypto assets. This collaboration, and those with our other strategic digital custodians like Digivault, will help law enforcement and asset recovery practitioners to properly recover, store and manage stolen virtual assets like cryptocurrency, NFTs or other virtual investments.  Our bespoke platform is the world’s first end-to-end solution that covers the whole life cycle of seized assets. Handling the entire process in one place saves investigators time, reduces ris...

  As digital asset trading gains more prevalence in society, it presents a unique new challenge for law enforcement agencies, asset recovery practitioners and regulatory bodies in both the public and private sector. We’ve been appointed by the Belgian authorities to provide comprehensive management services for seized crypto assets. We’ll be working closely with law enforcement agencies, public prosecutors and investigating judges across Belgium to improve their asset management capabilities and mitigate risk. Alongside one of our digital custodian partners, Digivault, our team of experienced crypto practitioners will be using our bespoke platform to provide recovery, storage and management services for seized digital assets like cryptocurrency, NFTS and other virtual investments. The platform was custom-built to provide the world’s first end-to-end solution for investigating, recovering, managing and selling these complex assets.  It will allow investigators to save time, red...

  Earlier this week, a federal district court in San Diego ordered more than $17 million dollars in restitution to be distributed amongst the victims of the infamous Bitconnect investment scheme.  Approximately 800 victims from more than 40 countries around the world will be awarded compensation for their losses in the most significant single recovery of cryptocurrency for victims to date. The Bitconnect Pyramid Believed to be the largest cryptocurrency fraud ever criminally charged, the Bitconnect Ponzi scheme defrauded thousands of investors out of $3.4 billion dollars in total. The platform’s director and promoter, Glenn Arcaro pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Sept 16th 2021. As a part of his plea deal, he admitted the intent to exploit their investor's interest in cryptocurrency by fraudulently marketing Bitconnect’s initial coin offering (ICO) and digital currency exchange as a lucrative investment with guaranteed returns through the use of social medi...

  From seizure to sale, seized cryptocurrency assets are yet to have a streamlined professional process. As cryptocurrency gains prevalence in today’s society, the need for a comprehensive way to resolve crypto disputes is growing steadily.  Asset Reality is teaming up with Chainalysis and Grant Thornton to create a ground-breaking end-to-end solution for simultaneously investigating, managing and resolving disputes involving seized cryptocurrency assets.  Grant Thornton is the largest dedicated contentious insolvency team in the UK with a sole focus on asset recovery. Although the crypto space has always been dominated by Tech and Analytical companies, Asset Reality is thrilled that established asset recovery practitioners such as Grant Thornton are now entering this industry to help victims and creditors recover their funds.  This new initiative will be spearheaded at Grant Thornton by Insolvency and Asset Recovery director Carmel King and Digital Forensic Group pa...

 Asset Reality has been chosen by the Anti-Corruption Commission of Seychelles to provide services to the law enforcement agencies on the island. We’ll be supporting their efforts and implementing solutions to help the country build on the excellent work that is already being done. Many smaller island jurisdictions like the Seychelles find it difficult to balance the economic opportunities brought by embracing the crypto ecosystem against the need to tackle illicit crypto, especially against the backdrop of corruption. The work being carried out by the various law enforcement agencies on the island is invaluable in the fight against financial crime. Our Co-Founder & CEO, Aidan Larkin, is delighted with the new appointment: “Getting to work in the Seychelles for the second time in a month is a real treat. Not just because of the spectacular location, but getting to work with the dedicated officers of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Financial Intelligence Unit and Financial Crime...