Another start to the week, another crypto scam alert. This week's latest phishing scam opened Pandora's box of scam tactics after an impersonator posing as a major cryptocurrency trader stole nearly $3 million.
crypto scams, a story as old as time
Whether prices go up or down, scammers are on the lookout for their next big heist, and this market slowdown was no exception.
crypto detective ZachXBT reported on the latest scam attack over the weekend. The researcher shared that an account posing as renowned cryptocurrency trader Ansem (@blknoiz06 on X) phished more than $2.6 million.
An impersonating account @blknoiz06 phishing > $2.6 million today simply by responding to each of their posts taking advantage of the recent meme coin craze.
The largest individual victim lost ~$1.2 million.
Theft address
BUYArgBfavHoGbfGYseyTWpzqKNeeYFjoJsgxiQcH4in4v pic.twitter.com/ZKcoh5vaOs– ZachXBT (@zachxbt) March 16, 2024
Using the username @blfnoiz06, the impersonator account responded to the merchant's X posts by promoting a pre-sale link that redirected users to a wallet drain.
The scammer would announce in each post that he was about to “launch his token” $BULL, and pre-sale participants were required to send a minimum of 1 SOL and a maximum of 3 SOL.
Ironically, the scammer responded to one of Ansem's posts saying, “I don't flip coins, bros.” As reported by the crypto detective, the biggest victim lost SOL worth $1.2 million. Within hours of the report, another $250,000 had been stolen, bringing the loot to nearly $3 million.
Another ~$250K stolen since my post lol
– ZachXBT (@zachxbt) March 17, 2024
When asked if these were real victims or scammers moving their stolen tokens, ZachXBT confirmed that several victims, including the largest, had messaged him to inform him about the scam.
Phishing in troubled waters
Despite not being a new tactic, the number of phishing scams involving popular and influential players in the crypto community appears to have increased recently.
Browsing social media, especially X, means seeing many accounts posing as important figures and trying to trap naive, greedy or reckless users.
Anti-scam platform Web3 Scam Sniffer urged its followers to remain vigilant after spotting several imitators trying to take advantage of cryptocurrency users.
some of the fake accounts we have recently detected posing as @ether_fi @Mint_Blockchain @swellnetworkio @0xDecadent
Stay alert, stay safe! pic.twitter.com/IzNAbQU07W
— Scam Tracker | Anti-scam Web3 (@realScamSniffer) March 18, 2024
The variety of personalities and projects they take advantage of range from virtual artists to nft-focused L2 blockchains and liquid staking protocols, as reported by the anti-scam platform.
Scammers appear to be trying to take advantage of the memecoin frenzy that is taking place. Recently, many projects have raised millions in pre-sales and many investors are looking for their next big profit. As a result, phishing in troubled waters becomes an easy task.
As seen in the dramatic launch of the Solana-based memecoin Slerf, imitators attempted to take advantage of the situation. They created an account purporting to represent the team behind the project.
This launch saw the accidental burning of the liquidity pool (LP) and pre-sale airdrop SLERF tokens, resulting in the loss of over $10 million raised by pre-sale participants.
<img decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-288048 aligncenter" src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Over-26-Million-Stolen-in-Phishing-Scam-Involving-Cryptocurrency-Trader.jpg" alt="crypto scam, solana, bitcoin, slerf” width=”601″ height=”658″ srcset=”https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Over-26-Million-Stolen-in-Phishing-Scam-Involving-Cryptocurrency-Trader.jpg 601w, https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Captura-de-Pantalla-2024-03-18-a-las-11.50.02-a.-m.jpg?w=384 384w” sizes=”(max-width: 601px) 100vw, 601px” data-recalc-dims=”1″/>
Fake Slerf account post. Source: X.com
In response to the real account, the impersonator claimed the bug was “a joke” and provided a fraudulent link for pre-sale investors to “claim” their tokens.
These tactics have caused many affected people to limit the people who can respond to their posts and issue warnings about the scam. Similarly, others have chosen one end their posts with an image that reveals that any other information or links below do not come from them.
It is worth noting that cryptocurrency thefts continue to rock the crypto space, with millions in losses. Because of this, cryptocurrency users should be careful about the links they interact with and ensure they have taken sufficient security measures to safeguard their funds.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-288047" src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Over-26-Million-Stolen-in-Phishing-Scam-Involving-Cryptocurrency-Trader.png" alt="crypto, crypto scam, BTCUSDT, btc” width=”980″ height=”493″ srcset=”https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BTCUSDT_2024-03-18_10-41-54.png?w=1022 1022w, https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BTCUSDT_2024-03-18_10-41-54.png?w=640 640w, https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BTCUSDT_2024-03-18_10-41-54.png?w=768 768w, https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Over-26-Million-Stolen-in-Phishing-Scam-Involving-Cryptocurrency-Trader.png 980w, https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BTCUSDT_2024-03-18_10-41-54.png?w=360 360w, https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BTCUSDT_2024-03-18_10-41-54.png?w=750 750w” sizes=”(max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px” data-recalc-dims=”1″/>
btc is trading at $66,841.1 In the 1-day chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView.com
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