Rahman Ravelli’s Syed Rahman explains the evolving nature of cryptocurrency fraud to Yahoo Finance

With the hacker who took $600 million from the Poly Network having started to return it, Yahoo Finance asked Syed Rahman to outline some of the recent developments in cryptocurrency fraud.

The hacking of Poly Network is the latest large-scale, high-profile instance of crypto-related crime being committed against major organisations. It is also the biggest incident of hacking and fraud linked to decentralised finance, also known as defi, which is a form of crypto financing that has been devised to remove the need for intermediaries such as banks.

Syed emphasised that the imagination of fraudsters who are targeting cryptocurrency is constantly developing. But he made clear that tighter regulations are forcing cryptocurrency exchanges to make checks on users' identities.

Syed also explained that law enforcement agencies are becoming more experienced in handling crypto-related crimes. This was illustrated in May, when hackers obtained a $4.4m Bitcoin ransom from the owners of the huge US Colonial Pipeline. The FBI was able to track down most of the coins and retrieve them.

Syed's comments featured on Yahoo Finance.