Category Archives: Scam

How To, Scam

A Reminder for Crypto Crime Victims: Don’t Forget to Report the Crime

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The recent COLDCARD hack has been a painful reminder that even experienced Bitcoin users can become victims of sophisticated attacks.

First and foremost, our thoughts are with everyone affected. We know that losing access to your Bitcoin is more than a financial setback, it can be an incredibly stressful and frustrating experience.

Many victims have already reported the wallet addresses involved to BitcoinWho’sWho.com, helping alert the community to suspicious activity. If you’ve done that, thank you. Community reporting plays an important role in helping others avoid the same fate.

But reporting a wallet address is only the first step.

Continue reading A Reminder for Crypto Crime Victims: Don’t Forget to Report the Crime →
Analysis, Scam

Great Ruling. But Why Does It Take 32 Bitcoin to Get Justice?

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The English High Court’s decision in Stephen Wilden v Person Unknown and Huobi Global S.A. [h/t Freshfields] is an important step forward for victims of cryptocurrency fraud. The ruling confirms that at least some Western courts are willing to issue freezing injunctions, compel exchanges to disclose information, and recognize sophisticated blockchain tracing techniques, even when stolen funds have been pooled and mixed in an attempt to conceal their origin.

It’s a significant victory for crypto asset recovery.

At the same time, the case raises an uncomfortable question.

Continue reading Great Ruling. But Why Does It Take 32 Bitcoin to Get Justice? →
Scam Digest

Crypto Scam Digest – October 21, 2022

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Two Men Sentenced to Prison for SIM-Swapping Crypto Scam

Two Massachusetts men were sentenced to two years in prison for stealing the social media accounts of crypto executives and using SIM-swapping to bypass 2FA protections. DOJ

$1.6M Stolen from an FTX Account

Details are unclear but it seem that hackers exploited automated trading bot API 3commas in order to take control of the user’s account and make thousands of trades. WU Blockchain

Localbitcoins User “Mustangy” Sentenced in Federal Court for Money Laundering

AKA Mustafa Goklu, Mustangy posted ads on localbitcoins.com offering to pay cash for up to $99,999 in Bitcoin. The cash he was offering came from his drug trafficking business. DOJ

Coinbase Users Sue over $21 Million in Crypto Scam Losses

Nearly 100 Coinbase users are taking the company to arbitration for failing to protect them from mining pool scams. Forbes

Three States Take Action Against Slotie NFT

Three US states have filed cease-and-desist orders against Slotie NFT for selling NFTs without proper registration and funneling the proceeds into metaverse casinos. Coindesk

Scam Digest

Crypto Scam Digest – October 14, 2022

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Scam Victim Withdraws BTC, Gets Toilet Paper

A Pennsylvania man received a briefcase which supposedly held cash from his crypto profits, but it turned out to contain toilet paper. And he paid an extra $9K for the code to open the briefcase. PA Homepage

WhatsApp Scam Impersonating Scary Spice

A scammer sent WhatsApp messages to stars and friends of Mel B (aka Scary Spice) asking for crypto donations to “help African children dying of thirst”. Yahoo!

Binance Hacked for Two Million BNB

An exploit of weaknesses in cross-chain bridges allowed a scammer to steal 2M Binance Coin worth about $580M. Yahoo!

French Police Charge Bored Ape NFT Thieves

Bored Ape NFT owners fell for a phishing scam that claimed it would animate the valuable NFTs. $2.5M in NFTs were stolen in all. Decrypt

Indian Police Target Scam Cloud Mining App

31 people fell victim to scam cloud mining app “CCH Cloud Miner” and police have filed a case against 3 of the scammers involved. Inc42

“Pig Butchering” Scams Increasing on Tinder

Scammers are using Tinder to meet victims, then dating them for weeks in order to set them up for a crypto theft. NY Post

Scam Digest

Crypto Scam Digest – October 7th, 2022

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Kim Kardashian Settles Charges for Illegal Crypto Promotion
Kardashian paid $1.26 million in penalties for promoting EthereumMax on social media without disclosing how much she was paid to do so. SEC.gov

Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Just A Bit of Coin
Plaintiffs claim that Just A Bit of Coin promised to build bitcoin mining rigs for customers but never delivered, blaming supply chain issues. ClassAction.com

Brazilian Police, US Homeland Security Bust Crypto Fraud Ring
A multi-year investigation has ended with the execution of 20 search and seizure warrants against a crypto scam ring based in Curitaba, Brazil. ICE.gov

Malicious DApp Is Stealing Crypto from Other Crypto Scammers “Water Labbu” is inserting malicious code into crypto scam websites and emptying the wallets of visitors of those sites before they even have a chance to get scammed the usual way. Trend Micro

Analysis, Scam

Bitcoin Scams are the World’s Other Continuing Pandemic

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2020 BitcoinWhosWho.com Scam Report Origins

Based on the origins of Scam Reports received by BitcoinWhosWho.com in 2020, bitcoin scams are the world’s other continuing pandemic.

BitcoinWhosWho received Scam Reports from 149 countries in 2020. 25 countries originated at least 100 reports.

Continue reading Bitcoin Scams are the World’s Other Continuing Pandemic →
Analysis, Famous Addresses, Scam

The Most Frequently Reported Bitcoin Scams Of 2020

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The Top 25 Most Frequently Reported Bitcoin Scam Addresses to BitcoinWhosWho.com in 2020* received 9.5994793 total BTC.

Every single address is associated with the “sextortion” email scam first reported here in March 2018. There are many variations of the scam, but basically claims to have webcam footage of the email recipient visiting adult websites and demands payment in bitcoin or else the video will be sent to their contacts.

The average amount scammed was .092 BTC.

Top 25 Most Frequently Reported Bitcoin Scam Addresses of 2020

Continue reading The Most Frequently Reported Bitcoin Scams Of 2020 →
Scam

Multi-Million Dollar Canadian Bitcoin Scam Using Binance

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Scammer will provide a QR code and the location of the closest bitcoin ATM.

If you have been caught up in this scam, you have a better than average chance of recovering funds.

The first “CRA scam” was reported to BitcoinWhosWho.com in August 2018. Since then, there have been dozens of reports of this particular tactic and it continues to fool a lot of people.

The most frequently reported CRA scam, aka “SIN scam”, bitcoin address has received 567BTC (as of Sept 9), worth almost CAD$8M.

Based on input transactions to this address alone, it appears to be scamming 2 or 3 people a day out of ~.33 BTC a pop.

The fraud starts with a caller ID spoofing Service Canada, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) or even sometimes reportedly the FBI. The caller claims there was fraudulent use of your Social Insurance Number (SIN) and only by visiting the closest crypto ATM and depositing BTC into their wallet (which they will conveniently text you a QR code for!) will they be able to “assist”. Don’t fall for it!

Continue reading Multi-Million Dollar Canadian Bitcoin Scam Using Binance →