UK National Crime Agency prepares to tackle fraud with new crypto unit

The UK’s National Crime Agency is working on tackling the rising instances of crypto crime in the country. Between March 2021 and April 2022, the regulator opened multiple cases of crypto-related scams and started recruitment of enforcement officers to investigate these crimes as part of their “crypto cell.”

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UK National Crime Agency is ready to battle crypto scams and exploits

UK National Crime Agency, a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom is the lead agency against cybercrime and economic crime that goes across regional and international borders. The agency has decided to tackle rising instances of crypto scams and exploits and decided to recruit a group of law enforcement officers to investigate crypto crimes, after a year where crypto hacks globally hit $3 billion.

The new officers would join a “crypto cell” dedicated to proactive cryptocurrency remittance with tools and capabilities to target UK-based subjects.The government agency has posted a job advertisement looking for enforcement officers, as reported by Financial News. 

The law enforcement agency’s move to dedicate a unit to crypto crime was inspired by findings of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom that operates independently from the UK Government, regulates over 50,000 financial services companies, and is financed by membership fees. 

The FCA noted that crypto was the leading sector for financial scams and exploits in the UK between March 2021 and April 2022. The regulator opened a total of 432 cases looking into crypto exploits during this time period. 

Ashley Alder, incoming Financial Conduct Authority chair, said that crypto companies were “deliberately evasive”, facilitated money laundering at scale, and created “massively untoward risk”. Andrew Bailey, Bank of England governor agrees with Alder’s stance and considers cryptocurrencies the new front line for criminal scams.