The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is issuing a warning to investors saying that criminals are posing as developers of non-fungible token (NFT) projects in crypto phishing scams. In a new public service announcement, the FBI says that bad actors are depicting themselves as legitimate NFT developers to run fraud schemes on social media. According […]
The post Criminal Actors Posing As NFT Developers in Crypto Phishing Scams, Warns FBI appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Two Republican lawmakers from Texas, senator Bryan Hughes and representative Mark Dorazio, have introduced legislation to create a gold-backed digital currency that could be enacted by the state legislature. The policymakers believe that this currency could greatly benefit the Lone Star State and, as an alternative digital currency, it could provide Texas residents with the […]
The Mango Markets exploiter previously called his attack on the crypto exchange “legal open market actions.”
The crypto trader behind the $110 million exploit of decentralized exchange Mango Markets has been arrested in Puerto Rico — and charged with market manipulation and fraud.
According to a previously sealed complaint filed with the Southern District of New York made public on Dec. 27, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) pinned Avraham Eisenberg with one count of “commodities fraud” and one count of “commodities manipulation” in relation to his exploit of Mango Markets.
Eisenberg’s Oct. 11 exploit of Mango Markets worked by manipulating the value of the platform’s native token MNGO, artificially inflating its price relative to USD Coin (USDC).
Eisenberg and his team then took out “massive loans” against its inflated collateral, which drained Mango’s treasury of around $110 million worth of various cryptocurrencies.
A day later on Oct. 12, Mango entered into negotiations with Eisenberg for the return of the funds.
On Oct. 15, Eisenberg publicly fessed up to exploiting the crypto exchange, stating at the time he was involved in a team that “operated a highly profitable trading strategy” and said that he believed all his actions were “legal open market actions.”
The FBI in its recent complaint stated the actions by Eisenberg constitute both fraud and market manipulation, as he “willfully and knowingly” engaged in a scheme involving the “intentional and artificial manipulation” of the price of perpetual futures on Mango Markets.
This ultimately allowed him to drain $110 million worth of cryptocurrencies — most of which came from the deposits of other Mango Markets investors.
“Due to [Eisenberg’s] withdrawals, other investors with deposits on Mango Markets lost much, or all, of those deposits,” explained FBI special agent Brandon Racz in the Dec. 23 complaint.
Racz said Eisenberg may have known his actions were illegal as well, as the day after the Mango Markets exploit, Eisenberg flew from the United States to Israel.
“Based on the timing of the flight, the travel appears to have been an effort to avoid apprehension by law enforcement in the immediate aftermath of the Market Manipulation Scheme,” he said.
Eisenberg was arrested on Dec. 26 in Puerto Rico, according to a filing from the United States Attorney Southern District of New York.
Related: How low liquidity led to Mango Markets losing over $116 million
In November, Eisenberg tried his luck again, this time on Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocol Aave, taking out a loan of 40 million CRV tokens from Aave and betting on a drop in price through a series of sophisticated short sales.
However, the plan ultimately didn’t succeed as the price actually rose during the attack, resulting in losses due to the significant short position.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says that one popular niche of the cryptocurrency ecosystem has become a prime target for cyber criminals. In a new press release, the agency reports that users of decentralized finance (DeFi) suffered over a billion dollars in losses during the first quarter of this year due to malicious […]
The post Over $1,260,000,000 Stolen From Ethereum-Dominated Crypto Sector in Q1 This Year: FBI appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Fake crypto apps appear to be part of an ongoing game of whack-a-mole with app store operators.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a public warning about fraudulent cryptocurrency apps, which have swindled U.S. investors out of an estimated $42.7 million so far.
According to an advisory published on July 18 by the securities and intelligence agency, cybercriminals have created apps using the same logos and identifying information as legitimate crypto companies to defraud investors. The FBI noted that 244 people had already fallen victim to these fake apps.
One case saw cyber criminals convincing victims to download an app that used the same logo as an actual U.S. financial institution, encouraging them to deposit cryptocurrency into wallets purportedly related to their accounts.
When victims attempted to withdraw from the app, they would be asked to pay taxes on their withdrawals. However, this was just another ruse to part more funds from victims, as even if they made the payments, the withdrawals would continue to be unavailable.
Around $3.7 million was defrauded from 28 victims between December 2021 and May 2022, said the FBI.
Another similar operation saw cybercriminals operating under the company name “YiBit”, defrauding at least four victims of around $5.5 million between October 2021 and May 2022, using a similar method of deceit.
A third case involved criminals operating under the name “Supay” in November 2021. They defrauded two victims by encouraging them to deposit cryptocurrency into their wallets on the app, which would then be frozen unless more funds were deposited.
Warnings about fraudulent apps have also made the rounds on crypto Twitter.
One user said a friend recently fell victim to a scam that started on the online messenger service Whatsapp which encouraged the victim to download a fake crypto app and load funds into the app’s wallet. A week later, the crypto app vanished.
Don't get scammed. I recently had a friend fall for a #WhatsApp scam where they had her download a fake #crypto app, put some money in, and about a week later the app is gone and is NOWHERE to be found. Luckily she didn't follow "instructions" and add more.
— Sarvasatvananda (Aaron) (@crypto_or_die) July 17, 2022
Another user says they have fallen victim to a fake Ledger Live crypto wallet app, reportedly called “Ledger Live Plus,” in the Microsoft app store. The user claims the fraudulent app has already stolen $20,000 from him.
Earlier this year, cybersecurity firm ESET uncovered a “sophisticated scheme” that would distribute Trojan applications disguised as popular cryptocurrency wallets. These applications would then attempt to steal crypto assets from their victims.
Related: More than $4.7M stolen in Uniswap fake token phishing attack
Last year, a scam cryptocurrency app dressed up as a mobile Trezor app on Apple’s App Store reportedly led to one user losing $600,000 in Bitcoin at the time.
A report from the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in June 2022 found that as much as $1 billion in crypto has been lost to scammers since 2021, with nearly half of all crypto-related scams originating from social media platforms.
The FBI has recommended crypto investors be wary of unsolicited requests to download investment apps, verify an app (and the company) is legitimate, and treat apps with limited and/or broken functionality “with skepticism.”
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is launching a new unit devoted to fighting the criminal misuse of cryptocurrency. According to a press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the new “Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit” will provide analysis, support and training for the FBI. Comprised of crypto experts, the unit will also innovate […]
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