Beware of crypto-romance scams if you mix business with pleasure

By Mehab Qureshi

Twenty-eight-year-old Nikhil (name changed), a crypto investor based out of Pune, had jumped on several dating apps, but to no avail. One night he received a message from “a beautiful woman” on Twitter, who claimed to be from Singapore. What followed seemed like a match better than anything a dating site could have offered. The duo discussed crypto, football, pizza and even exchanged WhatsApp numbers.

About two weeks into their “relationship,” the woman sent him a link that looked like a non-fungible token (NFT) airdrop. As soon as Nikhil clicked on it, his wallet was hacked and NFTs worth Rs 10 lakh were stolen. “Then she blocked my number. Her profile doesn’t even exist on Twitter,” he said. Many investors fall victim to such “crypto-romance” scams. And Twitter is where many of these criminals first contact potential victims.

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Neel Sinha, a crypto enthusiast, termed these incidents as the “Fake Asian Girl Crypto Scam”. “First of all, you get a ‘Follow’ request from an Asian woman on Twitter. She talks about your crypto trading experience and says you are doing the whole thing wrong. Then she tells you she might have a better trade option, he said. Things are definitely on the wrong track if that person shares a link. “If you click and authorize that transaction, there’s no going back,” he added.

Garv Malik, a standup comedian and crypto influencer, gets at least 1 or 2 such DMs a week. “These profiles usually have Asian or Caucasian women and an easy target for them are Indian men, who are not used to women messaging them first,” he said.

Data shows that as the popularity of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies increases, so does the incidence of crypto fraud. Crypto investors have lost more than

$80 million in fraud since October, a 1,000% increase from fall 2019, according to the US Federal Trade Commission. People between the ages of 20 and 39 accounted for about 44% of the losses, the FTC said.

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So how can crypto enthusiasts stay safe? “What makes these scams more dangerous is that it is difficult to trace the wallets into which the cryptos are transferred,” explained Sourajeet Majumder, a cyber security expert. In his view, it is best for users to avoid clicking on any links. He advises them to “be smart with your wallet credentials and never share your seed phrase (recovery phrase) with anyone.” He also advises users to watch out for fake giveaways, and remember that if a deal is too good to be true, it’s probably a scam. “Check whether an NFT site is secure or not; you can use tools like Trend Micro, which are available for free,” he said.

WAKING THREAT

* Women, mostly Asian, on Twitter dupe crypto investors into their NFTs

n Crypto investors have lost more than $80 million in investment scams since October 2021

* What makes such scams particularly dangerous is that it is difficult to find the wallets to which the cryptos are transferred

* Users should avoid clicking on links as they may also lead to fake exchange sites