Overall losses from fraud and theft of cryptosystems increased dramatically in 2019, doubling compared to 2018. Despite multiple efforts to address fraudulent crypto currency schemes, countries like Belgium continued to suffer losses to crypto currency fraudsters.

According to a May 8 report in the Belgian newspaper De Tijd, Belgium’s economic inspectorate reported losses of 2.94 million euros (USD 3.2 million) due to crypto coin fraud in 2019.

The figures continue to grow, but the real numbers are apparently not revealed

Recent figures show that the number of cases of cryptomoney fraud in Belgium has been growing in recent years. In 2018, Belgium’s Federal Public Service, known as FPS Economy, reported losses of USD 2.5 million from crypto-currency scams in the country.

Report: Crypt-related fraud and theft resulted in a loss of USD 4.4 billion in 2019
Moreover, these growing numbers are apparently „just the tip of the iceberg“, as most fraud cases remain unreported.

Nathalie Muylle, Belgium’s minister for the economy and consumer affairs, said the actual losses apparently exceeded USD 3.2 million.

„The amounts are not always reported by journalists,“ Muylle said.

As previously reported, Belgian authorities estimate that local investors lose more than USD 150 million to scams each year.

Belgian regulator blacklists nine more crypto-suspected websites
Belgium has taken multiple preventive measures to address crypto-currency scams

According to Muylle, Belgium has mainly taken a preventive approach to combat crypto-currency scams so far, while prosecution measures are not yet decided. According to reports, in 2019, the still in development / decentralized finance (defi) / bitcoin halving, explained / said that he believes / getting a lift thanks inspectorate sent a related inquiry to the prosecutor’s office for fraud and is still waiting for a decision.

The Belgian authorities have taken multiple preventive measures to address the problem in recent years. In February 2020, the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority, or FSMA, blacklisted a number of fraudulent websites related to crypto-currency. Previously, FPS Economy launched a website to raise awareness of the risks associated with investments in cryptosystems.