Cryptocurrencies of all varieties are notorious for being incredibly unpredictable and volatile. (opens in a new tab) It is also a deep niche, and especially from the outside, it is a difficult market to understand. Even a little bit on the inside it can be really confusing as to how value is obtained and assigned, especially with potential energy costs (opens in a new tab) and environmental compensation it just doesn’t make much sense most of the time. This arcane complexity combined with the tantalizing promise cultivated by the rise of bitcoin, and you have a perfect storm for fraud.
Now of course there is a lot of fraud within certain crypto sectors. NFTs in particular are often the topic (opens in a new tab), whether stolen by fraudsters or created by them. There have been so many get rich quick crypto schemes that have successfully taken advantage of people and the internet is really running. According to Bleeping Computer (opens in a new tab)fake cryptocurrency distribution sites have tripled this year, painting a disturbing picture of successful criminals in this space.
The report was published by cyber security company Group-IB (opens in a new tab) which found that the sites are generally aimed at English and Spanish speakers. They will often use deep fakes of celebrities who claim to endorse the product, tricking people into believing the credibility of the site. Group-IB states that over 2,000 domains were registered this year for the purpose of becoming this type of crypto scam site.
The sites draw in an average number of viewers of around 15,000 each. Of course, not all of these people are being scammed, but even getting these clicks is worrisome. There is no way these sites would be so common if they weren’t at least somewhat successful. Thanks to how easy they are to set up, and all the tools available to scammers today like deepfakes and rented YouTube accounts, we’re seeing three times more of these sites than we did even this time last year.
It all gets streamlined on forums to the point where people market their assets to help with fraud. Be it websites, promotional videos, deepfakes, streams and all kinds. Everything is sold online and even computer illiterate people can buy a package and have it all taken care of with automated toolkits. It is no surprise that we are seeing such growth, especially if they are pulling in money.
So the simple answer here is don’t fall for it. A site claiming to be giving away free crypto is probably a big enough red flag in itself. It’s a smart idea to stay away from basically anything that promises something for nothing online. If you have family who might be vulnerable, it might be time to sit them down and talk about internet safety and celebrity spoofing.
