<\/p>\n
The MEXC crypto exchange observed a 200% quarter-over-quarter surge in fraudulent trading activity between January and March 2025, it said in its quarterly report.<\/p>\n
According to the exchange, 80,057 organized fraud attempts from over 3,000 fraud syndicates were identified in Q1. The fraudulent activity included market manipulation, wash trading, and automated trading bots exploiting users through \u201cunfair\u201d trading execution.<\/p>\n
MEXC said that the rise in fraud was most pronounced in India, with the exchange flagging nearly 27,000 accounts for suspicious activity, followed by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region and Indonesia, which had 6,404 and 5,603 accounts flagged, respectively.<\/p>\n Tracy Jin, chief operating officer at MEXC, said the fraudulent activity was fueled by a steady stream of unsuspecting victims funneled through social engineering scams<\/a>. Jin added:<\/p>\n \u201cWhile 2021 was marked by DeFi exploits, 2025 is increasingly characterized by socially engineered market manipulation. We have observed a growing number of so-called \u2018educational\u2019 trading groups that appear to be coordinated efforts to mislead users.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A lack of education about cryptocurrencies and trading was the root cause of the increase in fraud, with many new users in these countries entering markets before understanding common scams and financial engineering pitfalls targeting crypto users, MEXC said.<\/p>\n