In previous years, Bitcoin was known to be involved in many fraudulent activities such as Silk Road, which has been an illegal Darknet market for drugs and weapons. Bitcoin was a big strategy by criminals but luckily, Bitcoin has become more mainstream and criminals were caught. Today, Bitcoin is known for being a reliable digital transactions asset but still some Bitcoin is involved in criminal activities.
Reliable Blockchain companies such as Chainalysis have helped to discover more crimes and make Bitcoin more reliable.
Correction: Bitcoin has always been a reliable source for digital transactions, and just because some people used it for bad purposes, it doesn't mean Bitcoin itself is bad or was bad. Criminals use all fiat currencies for illegal purposes, but we never think that fiat currencies are bad or they aren't safe. So, just like anything, Bitcoin can be used for both good and bad purposes, but that isn't going to make Bitcoin good or bad. The mainstream media or people who are against Bitcoin will always do their best to make it look bad, even some governments say that it's a currency that is used for criminal activities, but they need to be told that even their fiat currencies are used for that, but they don't ban them.
Other than that, I agree that people should be careful when buying or selling stuff using Bitcoin because if someone is using Bitcoin that were involved in a bad activity, they might get in trouble because of that. Other than that, Bitcoin is still and always will be a very safe asset for making and receiving transactions globally.