The reason why these scammers are still caught even though they can hack and make off with millions of dollars from their victims is because there are still smarter people who are better than them. Because usually these scammers have patterns and traces left behind during their operations, and this is what the authorities use to track or lure the scammers out of their hiding place. So there's no need to be surprised why these scammers can hack so well but can still be caught by the authorities.

The biggest crypto thieves aren't the ones who hack some crypto exchange and steal the coins. The biggest crypto thieves are the ones, who are running a "legitimate" business and find "legitimate" ways to scam their customers. There's no need for anyone to try to hide in "CAR, Easter Island, Somalia or Siberia" if he has enough money(who on earth would try to hide in Somalia? ). Having lots of money is more than enough for anyone to get good lawyers and try to trick the judicial system. Scammers like Sam Bankman-Fried were too dumb and they lost control over their scams. I think that many crypto whales have been scamming in the past, but most of them got away with no penalties at all.

Bitcoin is not like dark web money that can not be traced, this is why we have to take note of it as not being totally free money that scammers can use to escape being traced, so it depends on the extent of the scam is and which authority is after the hands behind it most time, no one can hide from the government and if the law wants to cash up with anyone, anything is traceable with the law and Bitcoin is not so much privacy concern that will make it untracked, no Bitcoin transactions can be traced, but sometimes, most scammers walk away with the crime if the amount of pressure from law becomes overly week.


So those who steal loads of $ are constantly at risk of getting caught up with regards, so there is no free lunch anywhere and scammers have no hiding ace regardless of what tool they use.

don't ever think that when you steal people's money in the form of bitcoin, you can wander around outside without getting caught. the biggest bitcoin theft case at the moment is said to be silk road where the perpetrator stole a lot of bitcoin and lived lavishly but in the end he had to be caught.

bitcoin uses a blockchain system, all transactions will be recorded there and also bitcoin addresses that have a lot of bitcoin will be monitored where all the funds flow by the government so it is difficult to hide yourself when you steal bitcoin from other people.

If you know how to lay low and manage your money not to be detected by authorities, you can really have a life that you want. But of course, it entails a detailed planning and be very cautious with whom you are dealing with. Because people have the tendency to report something if they feel they can get something out of it.

On the other hand, stealing is not really an admirable act. Would be hard to live a life always looking out over your shoulder? Would it be better to have peace of mind even if you live not in luxury?

I believe that our new technologies right now are also helpful to these thieves to get caught, we are totally different now compared to before.
Some fugitives are also dumb because some of them made their own mistake to get caught, and some are dumb mistakes.
Doing criminal things in cryptocurrency is also difficult because we are decentralized and their footprints can track some in the chain.

If scam is large and involves millions of dollars, the fraudsters may prefer to return the money, get a 5% rate, and work legally in a security protection company, but most of the fraudsters are lazy, do not like to work, and want a quick profit, so they defraud middle-class people because they know that their income is limited. The possibility of tracking currencies is more difficult because of their limited resources and they rarely target the rich.

When you steal a lot of money it doesn't really get easier. You need IDs, tickets, passports, people who will rent stuff for you, you can't do everything alone, but if these people learn about the money, what's stopping them from:
*Torturing you and taking it for themselves
*Blackmailing you
*Selling you to authorities for a bounty

You need trusted people to be able to hide, especially that you'll be doing it for many years. Most of these people who hack exchanges or run ponzi schemes end up not using the money out of fear or using it and leading the police to their doorstep. Read about that guy from Czech Republic who stole money from Sheep Marketplace. He started spending the money, bought a house and... got 9 years in prison.

As the scammers are advancing and also the anti-scammers squad is also developing because those software and apps the scammers user in most of them are manufactured by the experts of anti-scammers so there is no way those scammers or thieves can go without caught. If really government wants to trace anyone who stole public funds they can do it but corruption would not allow them to do it. Those who stole other people's money and hide it to spend are caught because they don't have their personal software and app but using other people developed and programmed softwares. So it is easy for them to be traced.

Ponzi Schemes do not have their personal internet IP or internet connection to operate so they are traceable.