Criminological Analysis of Crimes in the Field of Cryptocurrencies: A Study of Common Frauds in Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Hossein Mahmoudi Tekanloo 1
Roya Asiaei 2
1 Master's student, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding Author)
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/lc.2026.568479.1725
Abstract
This research aims to conduct a criminological analysis of the causes, contexts, and common methods of cryptocurrency fraud in the social and economic context of Iran. The study method is descriptive-analytical and based on library-documentary sources. The theoretical framework of the research is based on opportunity-based models, especially the theory of everyday activities and the theory of space transfer, which explain how the criminal context is formed in cyberspace. The findings show that the occurrence of cryptocurrency fraud in Iran is the result of the intersection of a motivated criminal, a suitable target, and the lack of an efficient guard. This weakness of guarding has crystallized at three levels: the individual level due to the low financial and digital literacy of the victims; the environmental level due to incomplete monitoring of exchange platforms and influencers' advertising activities, such as advertisements for buying counterfeit tokens on Instagram and Telegram; and the institutional level due to legal loopholes and legal ambiguity of virtual assets. The research concludes that effectively combating these crimes requires a preventive and multi-level criminal policy. This policy should focus on strengthening the watchdog through public education to raise user awareness, hardening the criminal environment, and developing specialized and transparent laws that criminalize new behaviors while ensuring enforcement that is appropriate to the cross-border and technical nature of cryptocurrencies.



Keywords
Cryptocurrency Fraud
Routine Activity Theory
Space Transition Theory
Financial Literacy
Situational Prevention.

Subjects