1. Home
  2. Scams

Scams

TON ecosystem scams on the rise: How to stay safe

As the TON blockchain is open-source and permissionless, individual users and projects must be careful to ensure their own safety.

The Open Network (TON), a blockchain platform integrated with Telegram, has experienced record-breaking growth in 2024. The number of onchain-activated wallets surged from approximately 1 million in January to over 9 million in June.

However, TON’s massive inflow of new users has not been overlooked by scammers. In June 2024, blockchain security firm SlowMist issued a warning on increasing phishing attacks on the TON ecosystem.

As the TON Foundation ambitiously expects to onboard 500 million users by 2028, it raises the question of how to properly protect users from attacks of all possible vectors without hindering rapid adoption.

Read more

Ethereum drops 7% in January, but next 2 months typically ‘very good’ for gains

FTC Warns: Social Media Investment Scams on the Rise

FTC Warns: Social Media Investment Scams on the RiseThe U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned consumers about a surge in social media investment scams, especially in cryptocurrency. These scams involve fraudulent messages claiming guaranteed high returns with little or no risk. The FTC advises ignoring such messages and reminds consumers that all investments carry inherent risks. FTC Issues Warning on Social Media […]

Ethereum drops 7% in January, but next 2 months typically ‘very good’ for gains

HULK Celebrity Memecoin Pumps and Dumps in Alleged Rug Pull As Hulk Hogan Claims His Accounts Were Hacked

HULK Celebrity Memecoin Pumps and Dumps in Alleged Rug Pull As Hulk Hogan Claims His Accounts Were Hacked

Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan says that posts made to his account promoting the Solana (SOL)-based memecoin HULK yesterday were not from him. HULK investors are reeling today after the celebrity memecoin based on Hulk Hogan’s likeness pumped to an over $17 million market cap yesterday before crashing to its current market cap of roughly $8,000, […]

The post HULK Celebrity Memecoin Pumps and Dumps in Alleged Rug Pull As Hulk Hogan Claims His Accounts Were Hacked appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Ethereum drops 7% in January, but next 2 months typically ‘very good’ for gains

Scammers Ask for Crypto on Fake SpaceX Elon Musk Livestream by Dubbing an AI Voice Over Real Video: Report

Scammers Ask for Crypto on Fake SpaceX Elon Musk Livestream by Dubbing an AI Voice Over Real Video: Report

A new report shows that over 100,000 people viewed a fake SpaceX livestream combining real video with an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated Elon Musk voiceover. According to a report and screenshot from TrustNodes, over 125,000 people were watching a SpaceX livestream on a fake YouTube channel with a QR code asking for crypto donations on the […]

The post Scammers Ask for Crypto on Fake SpaceX Elon Musk Livestream by Dubbing an AI Voice Over Real Video: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Ethereum drops 7% in January, but next 2 months typically ‘very good’ for gains

Crypto losses from fraud and hacks declined 12% in May — Immunefi

The decline in crypto scams and frauds continued, with only $52 million lost in May compared to $59 million the previous year.

Crypto losses from fraud and hacks declined by 12% year-over-year, according to a May 30 report from blockchain security firm Immunefi. A total of $52 million was lost over the course of the month, down from over $59 million in the same month last year. In addition, the figure represents a 28% decline compared to the amount lost in April.

The report illustrates a continuing trend of declining losses from hacks and fraud in the Web3 industry. In March, Immunefi released a report stating that losses in Q1 2024 declined by 23% over the previous year. In April, CertiK reported that the month had seen its lowest losses ever.

According to the May 30 report from Immunefi, most of the losses came from two individual attacks. The first was a hack of the Web3 gaming protocol Gala Games, which resulted in losses of approximately $21 million. The second was a smart contract exploit against Sonne Finance that led to $20 million in losses. Together, these two attacks represented 78% of total losses for the month.

Read more

Ethereum drops 7% in January, but next 2 months typically ‘very good’ for gains

Canada’s ‘Crypto King’ Facing Multiple Years Behind Bars for Allegedly Running $30,475,000 Fraud: Report

Canada’s ‘Crypto King’ Facing Multiple Years Behind Bars for Allegedly Running ,475,000 Fraud: Report

Canadian authorities have arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly masterminding a crypto Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors for over $30 million. After an 18-month investigation, police in Ontario have announced that they arrested Aiden Pleterski for fraud and money laundering charges, Canadian government-funded media CBC reports. Says Ontario Police Chief Peter Moreira, “It’s alleged that […]

The post Canada’s ‘Crypto King’ Facing Multiple Years Behind Bars for Allegedly Running $30,475,000 Fraud: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Ethereum drops 7% in January, but next 2 months typically ‘very good’ for gains

Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) Wallet Loses $69,300,000 Worth of Crypto in Apparent Address Poisoning Scam

Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) Wallet Loses ,300,000 Worth of Crypto in Apparent Address Poisoning Scam

A crypto wallet lost $69.3 million worth of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) in an apparent address-poisoning attack, according to the blockchain security firm CertiK. Address poisoning usually involves a scammer sending a wallet a tiny amount of crypto via an address that’s designed to look similar to the wallet’s, according to an explanation provided by Ledger, […]

The post Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) Wallet Loses $69,300,000 Worth of Crypto in Apparent Address Poisoning Scam appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Ethereum drops 7% in January, but next 2 months typically ‘very good’ for gains

April sees $25M in exploits and scams, marking historic low ― CertiK

Losses from hacks and scams reached their lowest level since 2022 when CertiK first started recording the data, with flash loan attacks and private key hacks decreasing.

April saw record-low crypto losses from hacks and scams, according to an April 30 report from blockchain security platform Certik seen by Cointelegraph. Only $25.7 million was lost in attacks over the course of the month, the lowest amount since CertiK started keeping track of this data in 2021.

According to the report, losses from hacks, exploits and scams were down 141% over the previous month. The decline is mostly due to the lack of private key compromises. In March, there were 11 attacks against protocols via private key compromises, whereas in April, there were only three.

Despite this good news for crypto users, some notable hacks and scams during the month caused losses of several hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Memecoin Condom “advertised a presale address on the Solana network,” which was used to drain funds from unsuspecting users. A total of approximately $933,000 of crypto was lost in that attack.

Read more

Ethereum drops 7% in January, but next 2 months typically ‘very good’ for gains

DeFi’s ‘unknown and unpredictable’ risks curb institutional use — Fireblocks VP

Institutions are keen on DeFi, and its use among them is growing, but on-chain risks are hamstringing further adoption, says Fireblocks’ Shahar Madar.

Institutional investors have a “growing interest” in decentralized finance (DeFi) but are held back by the risks of on-chain transactions, says a Fireblocks executive. The company aims to address these concerns by introducing new features to its platform. 

“For institutional investors navigating DeFi transactions, the risks are significant,” Fireblocks security and trust products vice president Shahar Madar told Cointelegraph. “They manage significantly more funds than the average consumer trader.” Madar added:

Despite the risks, Madar said institutional DeFi trading on Fireblocks rose 75% in the first quarter of 2024, reaching “nearly $4.5 billion.”

Read more

Ethereum drops 7% in January, but next 2 months typically ‘very good’ for gains

Scammers eye Toncoin as Telegram-TON partnership grabs headlines

Telegram’s integration of the TON blockchain and its native Toncoin token has become a honeypot for scammers promoting a referral pyramid scheme.

Telegram’s public support for The Open Network (TON) blockchain and its intention to incorporate its native Toncoin token have led to scammers targeting unsuspecting tokenholders to exploit them.

Information shared with Cointelegraph from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky outlines a cryptocurrency scam that has been attempting to steal Toncoin (TON) from Telegram users worldwide.

According to experts at Kaspersky, the scam has been operating since at least November 2023 as interest and investments in TON surged. Scammers have been promoting an elaborate referral scheme that ultimately aims to steal TON tokens from users.

Read more

Ethereum drops 7% in January, but next 2 months typically ‘very good’ for gains