A Malaysian man who responded to a job ad on Facebook reportedly fell victim to a human trafficking syndicate that forced him to engage in crypto scams. CBC reports that the man, only referred to as John to protect his identity, answered a post on a Facebook group promoting a purported customer service job with […]
The post Man Held Captive in ‘Scam Compound’ and Forced To Target Westerners With Crypto Schemes: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Four alleged perpetrators of a massive crypto investment scam are facing potential jail time of up to 20 years following their indictment on Wednesday. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Lu Zhang of Alhambra, California, Justin Walker of Cypress, California, Joseph Wong of Rosemead, California and Hailong Zhu of Naperville, Illinois conspired to […]
The post DOJ Accuses Four US Residents of Laundering Money for $80,000,000 ‘Pig Butchering’ Crypto Investment Scam appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
According to on-chain analytics firm Chainalysis, romance scammers increasingly use this method to steal their victim’s hard-earned crypto.
Crypto romance scammers — a cohort of crypto-stealing smooth-talkers — appear to have a new trick up their sleeves: targeted approval phishing.
In a Dec. 14 report from on-chain analytics firm Chainalysis, the firm noted that the technique has seen explosive growth over the past two years, with at least $374 million in suspected stolen crypto in 2023.
Approval phishing is a crypto scam where victims are tricked into signing transactions that give scammers access to wallets, allowing them to drain funds. While this isn’t new, Chainalysis said the technique is now utilized more often by pig-butchering scammers.
The US government, Thai police, and the world’s largest crypto exchange platform by volume just toppled a multi-million-dollar crypto scam. In a new company blog post, crypto exchange Binance says that it has contributed to taking down the criminal network that ran an elaborate scheme that targeted novice traders with fake investment platforms. “The Cyber […]
The post US Government, Binance and Thai Police Take Down ‘Pig Butchering’ Ring As $277,000,000 Seized From Scammers appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
On-chain data shows the $4.5 million was first transferred from the Kraken crypto exchange, before eventually arriving at an address purportedly owned by a scammer.
An unwitting cryptocurrency holder has reportedly fallen victim to an eye-watering $4.46 million phishing scam.
According to data from Etherscan, $4.46 million in Tether (USDT) was withdrawn from a Kraken crypto exchange wallet and eventually sent to an address ending “ACa7.”
Blockchain security firm PeckShield, has labeled the address as being owned by a phishing scammer.
#PeckShieldAlert The address 0x2175...f7D9 got scammed for 4.46M $USDT
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) September 21, 2023
Victim's address: 0x2175c0082d052872501f7fe54e1aC59858aaf7D9
Scammer's address: 0xAbb07822F471773Ff00b9444308ceEB7cf0dACa7 pic.twitter.com/Ny9CIrkBxw
Another blockchain scam platform, Scam Sniffer, suggested on Sept. 20 that the funds were sent to an address linked to a “fake Coinone crypto mining exchange."
someone withdrew $4.46 million from Kraken to a fake Coinone crypto-mining exchange about 1 hour ago.https://t.co/ued55jlWdM pic.twitter.com/tsV5BGDY0O
— Scam Sniffer (@realScamSniffer) September 20, 2023
Scam Sniffer linked to a user-created Dune Analytics dashboard, suggesting attacks of this nature have seen scammers steal approximately $337.1 million USDT in total, impacting as many as 21,953 individuals.
Related: Crypto whale loses $24M in staked Ethereum to phishing attack
The Global Anti-Scam organization says this type of approval mining scam usually tricks victims into authorizing unlimited withdrawals from their cryptocurrency wallet.
“When you create a self-custody crypto wallet [...] you obtain a "private key" that is safeguarded through encryption. However, the fraudsters do not need your seed phrase,” GASO said, explaining on its website that when a victim clicks to partake in the fake mining pool, they’re clicking on a button that will request a $10 to $50 network fee in Ether (ETH).
While it seems reasonable, GASO suggests it is part of to trick the user:
“This is merely a front to obtain your digitally signed authorization, allowing unlimited access to your wallet via the USDT smart contract.”
Magazine: Asia Express: Thailand’s national airdrop, Delio users screwed, Vietnam top crypto country
While the total figures are “alarming,” crypto scams accounted for 7.1% of the total $2.08 billion stolen from Australians in 2022.
Australians lost 221.3 million Australian dollars ($148.3 million) from investment scams where cryptocurrency was used as the payment method in 2022 — a 162.4% increase from 2021.
According to an April 17 scam activity report from the country’s consumer regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), 3,910 crypto scam incident reports were made in total, and the average Australian victim was stripped of AU$56,600 ($37,900).
The $148.3 million figure represents 7.1% of the total AU$3.1 billion ($2.08 billion) worth of scams reported in Australia for 2022.
Our latest Targeting Scams report has revealed Australians lost a record $3.1 billion to scams in 2022, as government, law enforcement and the private sector look to improve collaborative efforts to support the community in the fight against scams. https://t.co/3f9C3Uoltv pic.twitter.com/OGj6TkygnK
— ACCC (@acccgovau) April 16, 2023
Bank transfers remained the largest scam payment method with nearly 13,100 reports totaling $141 million — $7.3 million less than crypto payments.
Bank transfer payment scams averaged out at around AU$16,000 ($10,700) per incident, meaning that crypto scammers were able to swindle 250% more value from each victim.
Data showed that crypto scammers mostly contacted victims through social media and networking apps, while bank payment scammers more often reached out via phone and email.
In an April 17 statement, ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe partially attributed the spike in scams to new technologies making it easier to “lure and deceive victims” with increasingly “sophisticated” tactics:
“We have seen alarming new tactics emerge which make scams incredibly difficult to detect. This includes everything from impersonating official phone numbers, email addresses and websites of legitimate organizations to scam texts that appear in the same conversation thread as genuine messages.”
“This means now more than ever, anyone can fall victim to a scam,” she added.
While the figures are “alarming,” Lowe emphasized that the “true cost” of the damage still isn’t priced in:
“Australians lost more money to scams than ever before in 2022, but the true cost of scams is much more than a dollar figure as they also cause emotional distress to victims, their families and businesses.”
Lowe explained that the Australian government, law enforcement and the private sector need to strengthen ties to “combat” the scams more effectively and bring the numbers down.
Related: Aussies revealed as prime targets of Israel crypto scam syndicate
According to data from the ACCC scam database Scamwatch, the average investment scam victim in Australia is a 65-year-old man who was contacted on social media or had responded to a fraudulent advertisement.
They will likely be tied up in the swindle for “several months” before realizing they’ve been scammed.
Imposter bond offers, initial public offerings (IPO), relationship or pig butchering schemes and money recovery services are among the most common investment scams reported.
The ACCC said in its report that scam losses “are far higher” than reported, as around 30% of scam victims do not report it to anyone, while only 13% of victims report the incident to Scamwatch.
ACCC’s Scamwatch, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX) and other agencies compiled data for the report.
Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says it has seized cryptocurrency worth over $112 million linked to fraudulent investment schemes known as “pig butchering.” According to court documents, the seized crypto accounts were allegedly “used to launder proceeds of various cryptocurrency confidence scams,” the Justice Department said. $112 Million in Crypto Seized by DOJ The […]
The FBI has issued a public service announcement (PSA) warning on the utilization of play-to-earn games as part of a scheme to defraud users of funds stored in the form of cryptocurrency. Criminals are introducing victims to this kind of game and then use malware to extract the funds from cryptocurrency wallets linked to the […]
The regulator said it receives thousands of consumer and investor complaints about possible crypto scams each year, and it appears it's done something with the information.
The Californian Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has launched a new crypto scam tracker to help traders and investors spot possible industry threats.
On Feb. 16, the DFPI launched the tracker based on user complaints. It has compiled a list of crypto-related grievances by victims that claim to have been scammed or have identified attempted scams.
The complaints listed represent descriptions of losses incurred in transactions that victims have identified as part of a fraudulent or deceptive operation. However, the DFPI stated that it had not verified any of the scams listed, but noted that it receives thousands of consumer and investor complaints each year.
“Scammers are in the shadows using the public’s interest in crypto assets to take advantage of the most vulnerable Californians,” said DFPI Commissioner Clothilde Hewlett. She added that the department was taking action to identify them:
“Through the new Crypto Scam Tracker, combined with rigorous enforcement efforts, the DFPI is committed to shining a light on these ruthless predators and protecting consumers and investors.”
The majority of the 36 complaints already listed in the tracker were social media and social engineering scams where users have been duped into taking action via scams on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and dating apps.
80% of them were what the DFPI refers to as “Pig Butchering Scams” which are essentially social engineering attempts by scammers trying to establish a relationship and trust with the victim.
DFPI spokeswoman, Elizabeth Smith, said that “We have heard from consumers that scam alerts help them avoid similar scams.”
Related: Here’s how to quickly spot a deepfake crypto scam
Imposter websites are also one of the most commonly reported scams, according to the DFPI. “When companies or websites (fake or not) have a look- or sound-alike names, the potential confusion created for consumers is real,” it noted.
The tracker also has a search function enabling users to look up potentially fraudulent websites or crypto projects in advance.
Falling crypto prices caused crypto scam revenue to plummet in 2022, though two scam types managed to persist.
Crypto scam revenue was slashed by almost half in 2022 due mainly to falling crypto asset prices, but two scam types managed to stay immune.
Crypto scam revenue in 2022, which includes investment scams, NFT scams and romance scams, among others, amounted to $5.9 billion in the year — down 46% from 2021.
The data came from a Feb. 16 crime report from Chainalysis, which attributed most of the decline in scam revenue to poor market conditions — as lower crypto prices generally result in lower scam performance.
Chainalysis however pointed to two different scam types that managed to stay relatively immune to the price falls — romance scams and giveaway scams.
"Scam revenue throughout the year tracks almost perfectly with Bitcoin’s price, consistently maintaining a three-week lag between price moves and changes in revenue. However, not every distinct type of scam follows this pattern — some types of scams see revenue changes increase as crypto asset prices decrease," explained the firm, adding:
"For instance, unlike other kinds of scams, romance and giveaway scams don’t show a positive correlation with Bitcoin’s price."
Romance scams, while having lower overall revenue as a category, racked up the highest average victim deposit size in the year — with the average victim losing just under $16,000, nearly 3x more than the next biggest scam type.
Romance scams typically involve building a relationship with the victim, with the scammer convincing them that they need their help.
Chainalysis said that these scam types are most likely to persist when crypto prices are down because it's playing to a victim's compassion rather than greed.
"That kind of emotional pitch is probably equally effective regardless of trends in the wider market, because the victim’s primary goal isn’t to get rich quick, but rather to help someone they believe to be a potential romantic partner," the firm wro
Related: Scammers are targeting crypto users with new ‘zero value TransferFrom’ trick
Romance scams, and particularly "pig butchering scams" have been seen as a growing area of concern within crypto.
For example, a United Kingdom investigation published on Jan. 29 found that half of all crypto companies involved with scams in the state were linked to pig-butchering scams.
