The crypto community is being attacked by scammers on the microblogging site Twitter, a cyber security analyst known as ‘Serpent’ recently told his 253,400 followers. Scammers have adopted sophisticated tactics and have started using copycat websites, hacking verified accounts, and promising fake projects and airdrops via Twitter to lure unsuspecting victims into their traps. In fact, scammers are also targeting crypto investors who have lost their assets to phishing scams or protocol hacks and have shared information about it on Twitter.
Bad actors pretend to help victims of phishing scams and use the ‘crypto recovery scam’ technique to trick them further. They claim to be blockchain developers and ask for a fee to deploy smart contracts to recover stolen funds. Then they run away with the fee.
:triangular_flag_on_post::triangular_flag_on_post: CRYPTO RECOVERY SAM :triangular_flag_on_post::triangular_flag_on_post:
I’m sure most of us have seen these bots replying to tweets containing specific keywords.
Simply put, they try to target people who have already been scammed and claim that they can recover the funds. pic.twitter.com/zURznAzkxP
— Serpent (@Serpent) 21 August 2022
Scams through ‘Unicode characters’ as well as ‘honeypot accounts’ have also increased in frequency in recent times, Serpent mentioned in its Twitter thread.
In the past, scammers change URLs to legitimate sites with infected sites created by them. Characters in infected URLs are made to look like real links. Once the target accesses the fake website and provides their login information, their assets are closer to being controlled by the scammer, who ultimately removes them from the wallet.
In honeypot account scams, on the other hand, Twitter is used as a messaging platform. Scammers lock in their target victims and contact them via direct messages, asking for tips on working around crypto trading. A cyber analyst has warned Twitter users to stay away from engaging in such conversations with strangers.
A recent report by BanklessTimes claims that US-based crypto investors lost $185 million (roughly Rs. 1,500 crore) to romance scams between January 2021 and March 2022 and a total of $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,000 crore) in other fraudulent activities.
Scam activities around crypto have also multiplied in Hong Kong.
In the first six months of 2022, Hong Kong saw an alarming 105 percent increase in crypto scams compared to the same period in 2021.
According to Serp, fake art commissions and malicious play-to-earn game projects are techniques used by scammers to attack the NFT and blockchain gaming community.
:triangular_flag_on_post::triangular_flag_on_post: Fake P2E game/project :triangular_flag_on_post::triangular_flag_on_post:
By either targeting high-value NFT collectors individually, or making them widespread, scammers are impersonating/creating play-to-earn projects and releasing “beta versions” loaded with malware.
They are also paying for reviews. pic.twitter.com/RCR7dzrM2W
— Serpent (@Serpent) 21 August 2022
Twitter is estimated to have 200 million active users worldwide.
Members of the crypto, blockchain, and web3 communities stay connected with each other through relevant hashtags on Twitter.
However, it’s worth noting that these pools of hashtags also make it easier for hackers and scammers to identify potential victims.
Security agencies of many nations, including the US ‘FBI’, have repeatedly warned the crypto community not to communicate with unknown people to protect themselves from financial risk.
In June, the FBI revealed that crypto fraudsters were posing as professional financial advisors and reaching out to LinkedIn users, offering them scam schemes. According to a CNBC report, a group of LinkedIn users have seen losses ranging from $200,000 (roughly Rs. 1.5 crore) to $1.6 million (roughly Rs. 12 crore) due to crypto scams.
