Google Sues Chinese Nationals for Running Crypto Scam Using Google Play App Store

April 4, 2024 Bitcoin.com

CertiK drops findings on alleged scammer who stole $1M in crypto

August 16, 2023 Coin Telegraph

CertiK drops findings on alleged scammer who stole M in crypto

The cybersecurity firm has still been unable to determine the actual names or identities of the hackers despite the findings.

Potential evidence linking an anonymous scammer to a Canadian group was highlighted by blockchain security firm CertiK in a report sent to Cointelegraph; however, the company has so far failed to confirm the name or identity of the perpetrator(s).

On Aug. 16, CertiK released its findings from its investigation of a pseudonymous crypto scammer known as “Faint.” According to CertiK, the alleged scammer has been active since 2022, and the community has lost at least $1 million from their actions.

The security firm identified several Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains linked to Faint, including faintxbt.eth, comefindme.eth, thanksfortheseed.eth, onchainkitten.eth and hzontop.eth.

CertiK also highlighted that there have been links that established Faint’s connection to another alleged scammer known as “Soup.” On July 17, on-chain researcher ZachXBT published an investigation on Soup and said that the hacker was responsible for stealing millions in assets after attacking Discord servers by pretending to be employees of the media platform.

1/ An investigation into the Canadian phishing scammer known as Soup (Dan) who has helped steal millions in assets by attacking the Discord servers of projects like @Orbiter_Finance @PikaProtocol pic.twitter.com/EtD5FMiG4R
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 17, 2023

According to CertiK, the anonymous scammer often taunted projects after compromising their Discord servers. After a Discord hack in 2022, Faint posted a picture displaying a watch and showing the announcement of the nonfungible token (NFT) card game Cross The Ages that their Discord was compromised.

CertiK believes that the watch shown by Faint in the post in 2022 is similar to a watch that surfaced on ZachXBT’s investigation of a scammer known as “Madman.” CertiK believes that the watch is a possible match to the one shown by Faint in the previous post.

Despite the findings, the blockchain security firm still was unable to determine the actual names or identities of the hackers. The company said that Faint still continues to be a threat to the community and encouraged community members to protect themselves against potential wallet drainer attempts.

Within the report, CertiK recommended applications such as Wallet Guard and Pocket Universe, which can alert users to connections with wallet drainers. The company noted that users can also take precautions by verifying addresses and making sure that any approvals they sign are not from recognized phishing addresses.

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Magazine: $3.4B of Bitcoin in a popcorn tin — The Silk Road hacker’s story

To catch a scammer: Kraken builds fake crypto account to ‘bait’ fraudsters

May 11, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Scams

A call-center scammer impersonating President Joe Biden attempted to steal what they thought was $450,000 worth of Bitcoin from a streamer — instead, chaos ensued.

United States crypto exchange Kraken has provided a novel method for flagging nefarious wallets — building a fake crypto account on the exchange to “scam bait” bad actors.

Tweeting on May 10, popular streamer Kitboga — whose content revolves around annoying scammers— revealed that Kraken had built him a “custom environment” which he used to frustrate a scammer impersonating President Joe Biden, who he previously had a run-in with around a year ago.

This was so much fun!
— Nick Percoco (@c7five) May 10, 2023

In the accompanying video clip, Kitboga can be seen with around $450,000 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) in his Kraken-built fake crypto account.

The scammer then sees the funds via video remote computer screen-sharing software that he supposedly duped Kitboga’s character into downloading, and gets very excited about a big potential payday.

However, the punchline comes when Kitboga, who is portraying an elderly woman in the video, incorrectly enters the scammer’s wallet address before sending over all of the funds. As a result, the scammer becomes highly infuriated and starts berating Kitboga with a slew of swear words.

Notably, the scammer appears to have supplied a Kraken-hosted BTC wallet address, which essentially enables the crypto exchange to identify them and flag their activity.

The idea behind this collaboration seems to have been made possible by Kraken's chief security officer Nick Percoco and Kitboga.

best crypto marketing i’ve seen on tiktok yet.

Kraken sponsored a huge scam baiter account. They built him a custom environment so he could fuck with scammers pic.twitter.com/86p6FLA4g6
— Neeraj K. Agrawal (@NeerajKA) May 10, 2023

Kitboga has 1.2 million followers on Twitch and 3 million followers on YouTube. His content generally revolves around comedically wasting the time of call center scammers by playing a bunch of non-tech-savvy characters.

In some cases, he has also managed to get their dubious websites taken down by reporting the fraud to the hosting companies these websites are stored with.

“Everyday there are scammers taking advantage of people. I call them to waste their time, walk people through their ‘script’ and lies, report info when I can, and otherwise make light of a dark situation,” his YouTube profile reads.

Cointelegraph reached out to Kitboga for comment.

In a video on May 1, Kitboga highlighted a new BTC-related “social security scam” that targets victims via email or text message claiming that strange purchases have been made with their bank accounts.

However, when victims call the numbers provided, the scammers claim that their identities have been stolen and that they need to withdraw all their cash, buy BTC and send the funds to a “secure government wallet.”

Kitboga obviously had fun with these scammers by pretending to get their “grandson” to buy 10,000 BTC and send it to the wrong address.

Magazine: $3.4B of Bitcoin in a popcorn tin — The Silk Road hacker’s story

crypto scammers