Crypto Romance Scam: ‘Asian Women’ On Twitter Are Coming For Your ‘Crypto Wallets’
Twenty-eight-year-old Nikhil (name changed), a crypto investor based out of Pune, jumped on several dating apps but had no luck. But one night this year, he received a message from “a beautiful woman” on Twitter, who claimed to be from Singapore. What followed was a match better than any dating site could offer. The duo discussed crypto, football, pizza and even exchanged WhatsApp numbers.
“…she always talked about crypto and that made me happy. She would discuss investments and potential airdrops and I would love to chat with her,” Nikhil told indianexpress.com. However, video calls were a strict no as she would claiming to be “unpleasant”. About two weeks into their relationship, the woman sent him a link that looked like an NFT airdrop. But as soon as Nikhil clicked on it, his cryptocurrency wallet was hacked and NFTs worth Rs 10 lakh was stolen.
“I was devastated, she blocked my number and her profile doesn’t even exist on Twitter,” he said. Unfortunately, Nikhil is not alone. Many crypto investors fall victim to “crypto romance scams”. Victims are lured with stories of romance and affection so criminals can access their crypto wallets. And Twitter appears to be the place where many of these cybercriminals first contact potential victims.
Neel Sinha, a crypto enthusiast, narrated a similar experience where scammers have tried to lure him. He called these scams “fake Asian girl crypto scams”. “First of all, you get a ‘Follow’ request from Asian women on Twitter. She talks about your crypto trading experience and proves you are doing the whole thing wrong. Then she wants to tell you that maybe she has a better trading option,” he told indianexpress .com. Sinha noted that these scammers always talk about lucrative options, like 60 percent monthly returns or even daily.
Indianexpress.com has also seen some of these messages and fake crypto airdrops sent by profiles on Twitter.
But the whole catch is when they share a link. “If you click and authorize that transaction, there’s no going back,” he added.
Garv Malik, a stand-up comedian and crypto influencer, receives at least one or two DMs a week. He claimed that this happens every time he tweets something on NFTs/crypto. “These fake profiles usually have Asian or Caucasian women and an easy target for them is Indian men, who are not used to women messaging them first. The moment that happens, happiness takes away the rationality part,” he pointed out.
Indianexpress.com has also seen some of these messages and fake crypto airdrops sent by profiles on Twitter. Many profiles use pictures of Asian women as lures. And clearly, the rise of crypto-related scams is a global problem. Data shows that as the popularity of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies continues to rise, so do the related online scams.
Crypto investors have lost more than 80 million dollars in cryptocurrency investment fraud since October, a 1,000 percent increase from fall 2019, according to data from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). People between the ages of 20 and 39 were particularly hard hit, representing about 44 percent of reported losses, the FTC said.
So how can crypto enthusiasts stay safe? “What makes these scams more dangerous is that it’s hard to find these wallets, so once you lose your cryptos, there’s no way to get them back,” explained Sourajeet Majumder, a cybersecurity expert.
In his view, it is best for users to avoid clicking on any links as they may also lead to fake exchange sites. His advice to users is to “be smart with your wallet credentials and never share your seed phrase (recovery phrase) with anyone.” He also advised users to watch out for fake gifts and that if a deal is too good to be true, it’s probably a scam. “Check if an NFT site is secure or not, you can use tools like Trend Micro, which are available for free,” he noted.
