Fake Cryptocurrency Investment Scheme Scams: What You Need to Know

IOTSPYNET
5 min readFeb 23, 2022

Cryptographic money, sometimes known as crypto, is a sort of electronic cash that is technologically sophisticated. Everyone must invest their time and money into this thriving business area in order to reap enormous rewards. Because it lacks a central providing power, cryptography is thus vulnerable to trickery. Cryptography makes use of a decentralized control instrument, for the most part a blockchain, to publicly record trades in a computerized structure. Blockchains are decentralized control instruments.

What is a SIM-Swapping attack?

SIM Hijacking is another name for SIM switching. In this kind of identity theft, an attacker is able to illegally generate a new SIM card with any phone number and uses it for their own advantage without the original owner’s knowledge or consent.

It is common for an attacker to call a telecom company and pretend to be the legitimate owner of the target’s phone number by providing personal information to their customer support staff (or using insider contact, as happened in 2019). A new SIM card is sent to the hacker, and the phone number is transferred to the attacker’s account.

What was accessed and stolen

In order to acquire unauthorized access to the phones of their victims, the hackers performed SIM-swapping assaults. Over 100 million dollars worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from thousands of people because to this.

These cybercriminals also hacked victims’ smartphones, changing their passwords and spreading malware through their social media profiles by seizing control of the victims’ installed applications and gaining access to synced accounts.

Protection against SIM-Swapping attacks

Remember that if you set a PIN number to your smartphone account, you can prohibit SIM-Swapping. However, the method of doing so varies from carrier to carrier, so you’ll need to get in touch with the relevant one. The verification procedure might be further complicated by using a vocal password.

Cryptocurrency scam

As of May 2021, there are around 10,000 digital currencies in circulation throughout the world, with Bitcoin being the most well-known of these. In contrast to Bitcoin, other currencies are commonly referred to as Altcoins, which means “alternative coins.” The list includes well-known altcoins such as Litecoin, Peercoin, Namecoin, and Dogecoin, as well as a large number of lesser-known altcoins such as Monero and Dash.

However, the cryptocurrency market continues to be a mysterious sector for some, and one should conduct thorough research before investing their money in it in order to avoid the possibility of being duped.. Tricksters have been enchanted by the lack of proper information, the rapid increase in the value of cryptocurrency, and individuals’ desire to make a quick cash.
As a result, assuming that you are a financial backer, particularly another one, in the cryptocurrency market, here are a few methods and instances that you should consider in order to reduce the likelihood of being duped.
From online dating sites to video-sharing websites such as YouTube, cryptocurrency scam artists are use every possible media as a bait to pull in new financial backers to their schemes. Additionally, cryptocurrency is yet another area where consumers are eager to contribute, making it an ideal location for scam artists to prey on unsuspecting customers.
According to a Federal Trade Commission study, the number of false venture cases filed since October 2020 has reached an all-time high. More than USD 80 million in combined losses have been accounted for by more than 7,000 individuals. Due to the fact that this is a new venture, financial backers will more often than not pool their resources and information on a few entrances, creating a base for tricksters who will more often than not pool their resources and information in an attempt to persuade financial backers to spend their money.
Another survey stated that web-based sentiment is a fundamental component of digital currency frauds, in which customers are tricked into believing that they are connected to the internet at a substantial distance. After that, the scam artists persuade them to invest their money in a new cryptographic currency that is about to be launched. Since October 2020, around 20% of the money that has been lost to web-based sentiment scams has been spent on digital money. In addition, the great majority of these persons fall into the 20–49 age group, which is a significant demographic.

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There has been an increase in the sophistication of viruses and infestations, posing a larger risk to financial backers when they utilize websites to purchase digital forms of money. This type of malware programming gains access to a client’s account(s) and drains the extra balance, leaving the financial backer with absolutely nothing.
Another well-known digital currency gimmick that has surprised financial supporters is the cryptocurrency siphon and dump, which is similar to penny stocks in that it is often tiny in size.

A crypto-master or a force to be reckoned with acquires large quantities of a little currency and immediately begins promoting it on their social media platforms. Then, at that time, they would proceed to urge that financial backers acquire them, resulting in an increase in the value of the coin. The powerhouse relinquishes every one of their cash in exchange for a monstrous profit once this is accomplished.
According to the BBC, in March 2021, McAfee was accused of illicit tax evasion as well as a conspiracy to submit false information to the IRS. The two robbed a strong USD 2 million from the bank using the siphon and dump strategy. However, that was not all; they also received USD 11 million in compensation from digital currency start-ups for advancing their currencies into circulation.
Do you remember DeFi100 and the con artists who hacked the site? Defi is an acronym that stands for decentralized money. Currently, it is attempting to provide an alternative interpretation of the conventional trading procedures in order to make it more user-friendly and allow more people to engage in it on a more widespread basis. It enables financial backers to invest their digital money in organizations in exchange for interest payments from the organizations. The virtual currency is locked up with the company, and as a result, substantial advantages are pulled against it.

Lesson learned: Do not be overly eager to make interest or profits, and do thorough research on the platform before putting your money at risk. If the administrator requests your private keys in order to resolve a problem, this is a red flag and your signal to suspect that the administrator is an impostor, because no legitimate administrator will ever want your private information.

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