Binance Prevents Over $129M From Being Lost to Scams in 2024 via AI and ML

Crypto exchange giant Binance reportedly stopped more than $129 million from being lost to criminals in 2024.

In its Anti-Scam Refund Initiative end-of-year report, the company outlined how it deployed cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies to transform digital asset security from reactive measures to proactive defense strategies.

Anti-Scam Initiative

According to the report, on average, the company processed about 80 successful fund recoveries monthly, totaling to about $9 million of stolen funds returned to victims in 2024. Additionally, it revealed that it made over 30,000 phone calls to warn potential targets of likely scams, with at least 15,000 alerts issued daily to platform users.

The initiative’s efforts resulted in no less than 47,000 malicious addresses being blacklisted and, as of November, more than $129 million in annual funds prevented from being swindled.

The key to Binance’s approach to stopping bad actors from stealing from its user base is a system that combines technological surveillance and human-centered support. In it, machine learning algorithms analyze complex transaction patterns in real-time, identifying potential criminal activities at super-fast speeds. It also employs AI-powered behavioral profiling to distinguish between legitimate user activity and potential illegal undertakings.

The firm reported that it developed more than 50 specialized models and implemented 14 major upgrades to outmaneuver the fraudsters’ increasingly sophisticated tactics.

Its Anti-Scam Refund Initiative operates through four pillars: proactive protection, 24-hour safety mechanisms, rapid response recovery, and support for silent victims. The one-day safety net allows users a cooling period for suspicious transactions, with funds moved to flagged accounts frozen to provide an opportunity for investigations and potential intervention.

Binance’s Wins Over Crypto Thieves

Since the beginning of the year, CryptoPotato has reported several incidents in which Binance’s intervention helped cryptocurrency users recover stolen funds. For instance, in October, the company aided Delhi police in taking down a digital asset scam ring in the city and recovering up to 100,000 USDT.

Earlier in September, the exchange’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) helped authorities in the same country crack a scheme in which user funds amounting to $47.6 million were stolen from an online gaming platform and siphoned into several digital wallets.

In August, the company announced that its risk management system had prevented more than $2.4 billion in losses from potential swindlers in the first half of 2024. About $1.1 billion of this was attributed to suspected criminal withdrawals, with another $73 million previously frozen due to external hacks.