Phishing Attacks on Cryptocurrency Investors in the Arab States of the Gulf

Abstract

With the rapid development of technology in all fields, including the financial field, people have flocked to invest in cryptocurrencies, sometimes without prior knowledge or experience. This has prompted hackers to prey on inexperienced investors through many types of fraud and attacks, especially phishing attacks. Cryptocurrency investment transactions take place without intermediaries such as banks and monetary institutions. Investing in cryptocurrencies is a form of peer-to-peer transaction and takes place without the involvement of physical wallets. This study addresses cases where people may become victims of phishing attacks due to the nature of cryptocurrency investments. The aim of this study was to understand the concepts of various phishing attacks on cryptocurrencies and to measure the awareness of cryptocurrency investors in the Arab Gulf countries regarding the security risks associated with cryptocurrency investments. This research was conducted by distributing a questionnaire among cryptocurrency investors and collecting and analyzing all the survey responses. The results reveal a lack of awareness about how to deal with the security risks associated with cryptocurrency investments. The research concludes that the majority of cryptocurrency investors are unaware of how to deal with phishing attacks. Finally, we address future research directions and recommend actions that can be taken to increase investors’ awareness of this issue.