Beware, Bitcoin: the most popular cryptocurrency betting schemes

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

How the most popular wiring schemes for buying and selling cryptocurrencies work.

Having easily overcome the psychological mark of 10 thousand dollars, bitcoin almost immediately jumped the level of 11 thousand, later, however, slightly corrected. While analysts and financiers are wondering how long such a dizzying take-off will last, how it is backed up and whether bitcoin will become a threat to the global economy, scammers keep their finger on the pulse.

Phishing from fake sites

Numerous fake sites of cryptocurrency exchanges and bitcoin exchange services are one of the proven ways for cybercriminals to get rich. By changing one letter in the URL, they create fake clones of Internet resources on which you can store or exchange bitcoins, ethers and other cryptocurrencies.

The goal of phishers is to steal registration information or force a user to make transactions with a cryptocurrency, which will end up in the fraudsters' wallets.

Search engines often don't check if a site is real or a clone of it. As a result, phishing resources appear in the search results (contextual ads that are displayed on top of search results. - Ed.) And are clicked on by a huge number of users.

This, for example, looks like a phishing wallet resource for the Etherium cryptocurrency ("ether") located at an address that has an error in its name ("wallt" instead of "wallet").

© Myetherwallt Fake site myetherwallt.com

And here is an advertisement for another fraudulent wallet clone with the address myethlerwallet [.] Eu. Interestingly, it appears in the search results just above the official Etherium wallet website, MyEtherWallet.com.

Contextual advertising of the fake website myethlerwallet.eu

Pyramids and Bitcoin deposits

Those who already have a certain amount of cryptocurrency and a desire to increase it are targeted by the creators of MLM structures. They offer to invest bitcoins by putting them on a deposit, and they promise high returns - for example, two to three percent a day.

One of the latest projects of this kind is Trinity, which launched this summer. For about three months, the service regularly paid money, attracting customers through a referral program: the interest on the deposit could be increased at the expense of attracted people.

“As a result, Trinity collapsed, being an example of classical pyramids that were previously used in other systems, and now began to be applied to cryptocurrency,” notes Evgeny Kaminsky, founder of Cryptomir, a cryptocurrency trader and miner.

© USI Tech USI Tech Bitcoin Investment Platform

Via Skype and Qiwi wallet

A fraudster negotiates with a potential buyer to sell bitcoins using a Qiwi wallet. The seller asks to open Skype and show the wallet screen, ostensibly to make sure that there is money there. Further, under any pretext (for example, in order to check the operation of the system), he asks to generate a voucher.

"The generated code is displayed on the screen, and while the attacker coaxes the client, he activates this code in his wallet, and the buyer immediately loses money," explains Kaminsky.

© RIA Novosti Website of the electronic payment system QIWI

Triple circuit

As a rule, the bitcoin seller does not participate in the triple scheme - only the fraudster and his victim interact. As a rule, a deceiver sells a popular product on the Internet, for example an iPhone, at a too low price. The seller requires a prepayment to the card, but he does not give his credit card, but the bitcoin seller, who, in turn, expects money from the fraudster for the cryptocurrency.

As a result, the seller of bitcoins receives a money order, the fraudster receives bitcoins, and the person who wanted to pay for the iPhone is left with nothing.

In 99% of cases, a bitcoin seller does not know that he is receiving money from a third party. But the deceived buyer writes a statement to the police specifically for him - after all, there is the data of the card to which he transferred the money.

Cloud mining

Another bitcoin scam is cloud mining. In fact, it allows you to mine cryptocurrency without hardware and software, renting computing power for a certain amount.

© CoinMix Cloud Mining CoinMix

"Cloud mining is 90% fraudulent. Such sites give access to a counter that supposedly reflects the mining process, but when you try to withdraw something, there is a" technical problem "or pennies are credited to the client's account," explains the cryptocurrency trader.

As a rule, only manufacturers of equipment for mining cryptocurrencies, such as Bitmain, can provide the service of fair "cloud mining". This is their side business, and they really have free capacity, which they offer for rent.

Street divorce and crime

The interest in cryptocurrency is so great that street scammers also use it. So, in October in Obninsk, a local resident bought two "bitcoins" from his hands, paying a thousand rubles for them. The sellers told the gullible customer that bitcoins "are constantly getting more expensive and in November you can earn several thousand on their rate."

© RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich Souvenir cryptocurrency bitcoin in the MaRSe Bitcoin Center in Moscow

Experts point out that there are currently no physical "equivalents" to bitcoin. You can buy only souvenir or collectible coins with the image of his badge. At one time, attempts were made to make "tangible" bitcoins.

This is how Casascius appeared - coins in which a piece of paper with a cryptographic key covered with a hologram is embedded. This code allowed accessing the wallet and using up the denomination. However, when the creators had problems with legislation, the project was closed.

The hunt for cryptocurrency is turning into open racketeering. In mid-November, in the center of Moscow, bitcoins worth 15 million rubles were stolen from a man. When the owner of the cryptocurrency transferred it from his electronic account to the buyer's account, and the meeting participants waited for the confirmation of the transfer, the seller was about to pick up the cash. But suddenly six bearded men entered the office and, threatening with violence, took a package with money. Later it turned out that the parties did not sign any documents on the transaction.