An elaborate scam promoted by thousands of hacked websites and social media accounts promises a safe cryptocurrency investment. But the victims never see their money again.
Cybersecurity researchers from Group-IB have spotted a major hacking campaign.cryptocurrency scamwhich is particularly prevalent in Europe. More than 11,000 fake sites have been created to complete the operation.
The platform in question attracts investors with false promises of earnings and profitability. She makes them believe that she is in charge of making their money grow thanks to cryptocurrencies, without them themselves needing to perform any manipulation or take an interest in the market.
When the victims of the scam make a deposit, they can follow the progress of their investment from a dashboard. Except that the numbers are bogus and will often feature large and quick wins to encourage investors to bet more. The minimum amount to invest for “benefit” of the service is 250 euros.
Read also: Bitcoin – what is it, how to invest and make money
Ads and social accounts hacked to promote the scam
The scam turns out when the user wants to withdraw his money. The operation is impossible and the investment is lost, stolen by the owners of the platforms. Worse, a final deposit is requested to unlock the withdrawal of funds in an attempt to extract even more money from the victims.
Many promotional means are implemented to highlight this scam to Internet users, in particular through advertisements on fraudulent sites and through stolen social media accounts. Frequently, the image of celebrities is exploited in order to gain the trust of victims.
Read also: several cryptocurrency platforms may run out of money
After clicking on the advertisement, voluntarily or inadvertently, a series of redirections lead to the hacker platform, where a “customer service agent” immediately contacts the user to explain the system, the procedure to follow and convince him to invest.
Nowadays, more than 5,000 sites leading to this scam are still active. The victims are European residents, mainly in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
Source: Group-IB