TECHFORING UNRAVELS THE BIGGEST CRYPTO SCAM IN CYBERSPACE

 

In recent times, the cryptocurrency market has exploded, and many individuals became millionaires overnight and gave the impression of putting their hard-earned money into crypto to get rich quickly. But cybercriminals and frauds deceived many people after investing in fake crypto farms. Recently, we investigated such an incident as a crypto scam.

The cryptocurrency market has exploded in recent years. Many individuals became millionaires overnight, giving the impression that investing your hard-earned money into crypto is the shortcut to getting rich.

However, Cybercriminals and frauds also took this opportunity to deceive many people into investing in fake crypto firms. We’ve tackled a crypto scam incident recently, and here’s a rundown of our findings.

The Case

In May 2021, someone named Bob (alias) approached TechForing. He had invested over 3.6767 Bitcoin (BTC), which was equivalent to $128k in BinanceUS at the time. One day he suspected that someone was compromised, or at least someone was trying to hack his account. He temporarily deactivated the account to protect his crypto investment.

A few days later, found out that the cryptocurrency he had invested in, went up in price. He thought it was the perfect opportunity for him to withdraw his Bitcoin. He tried to activate his account but failed to do so.

He tried to re-activate his account a few times but didn’t have any luck. As a last resort, Bob contacted the support of BinanceUS to reactivate his account, but there was no response.

Then he started looking for more information on Twitter about BinanceUS. He found the CEO of BinanceUS, named Catherine (@crypt0Coley). Unfortunately, Bob contacted someone impersonating Catherine, who was using the same name, details, and pictures as the real CEO of BinanceUS, Catherine (@cryptocoley).

Bob asked the imposter to help him, and the imposter grabbed the opportunity and started asking for Bob’s account information. They assured him about the matter to be forwarded to the respective team.

The imposter also gave Bob a tempting sped-up investment offer in another platform named “nitrodex.co”. The platform was offering a 200% investment growth for any amount in just a few weeks.

Bob tried to verify whether he was communicating with the real CEO of BinanceUS or someone else pretending to be the CEO and asked for proof. The imposter provided the driving license of the real CEO. Bob was convinced and decided to proceed with the offer.

After a lengthy discussion, the imposter suddenly requested to take the communication from Twitter to Telegram. The imposter also referred Bob to Tad Wilton, who pretended to be a technical guy related to accounts and finances, and also a member of Nitrodex.

Wilton gathered all the ticket IDs between Bob and BinanceUS support team and advised him to transfer 3.24785749 BTC ($112,602.31) and 0.42886322 BTC ($14,868.57) to the following wallet addresses so Wilton could continue investing in behalf of Bob:

• 1NYgbCWK3BGFEKdystj7K5LcstpAxiKEW3 
• 18bZoEom8rjcmBmGgRZxbPQsDEmXG48CmQ

And after each trade, Wilton shared results with Bob as proof of investment. Bob thought his money was in expert hands and the amount would grow as planned.

After two transactions, Bob invested more BTC through Wilton. Unfortunately, from that point forward, Bob didn’t hear a word from Wilton. Finding no other way of communicating with Wilton, Bob decided to contact the fake CEO again

Bob asked the fake CEO to return his investment, but the imposer declined to have any kind of involvement with the issue. The imposter also threatened Bob that if he tries to do anything about it then his life, as well as his family’s safety will be endangered.