According to reports, a global bitcoin scam has leaked personal data of approximately 250,000 people from more than 20 countries. Most of the compromised data was from people in the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and the United States. This bitcoin scam operates under several different names.
Investors’ personal data leaked
A global threat and intelligence search company, the IB Group, revealed this week that it has “discovered thousands of personal records of users from more than 20 countries around the world exposed in a multi-stage bitcoin scam.” The Singapore-based company said it found 248,926 sets of unique personally identifiable information, elaborating:
Analysis of the telephone codes of the exposed countries showed that the majority of the victims were from the United Kingdom (147,610), followed by Australia (82,263), South Africa (4,149), the United States (4,147), Singapore (3,499), Malaysia ( 2,491), Spain (2,420) and other countries.
The company described that at least six active domains were identified with the same bitcoin investment platform. The scheme operates under different names, such as Crypto Cash, Bitcoin Rejoin, Bitcoin Supreme, and Banking on Blockchain. Group IB analysts added that this new scheme resembles the Bitcoin Evolution scam.
The company also explained how this bitcoin scam works. First, a potential investor receives an SMS text message. Scammers sometimes send phishing messages using the name of a recognized media outlet as the sender.
Each message contained a unique short link that leads the investor to a website “that already displays their personal data, such as phone number, first and / or last name, and sometimes an email address, and is used to redirect to sites fake websites disguised as a local media outlet, “the intelligence company detailed.” Experts believe that the personal information information could have been obtained by scammers through a separate fraudulent scheme or simply purchased from a third party. “
The content that is displayed often depends on the location of the target crypto investor, such as the main media in the investor’s country. Fraudulent websites feature fake celebrity interviews, articles, news, and comments attributed to local celebrities. They claim that famous people made a fortune using the new cryptocurrency investment platform. An example is Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, used by Bitcoin Evolution as news. Bitcoin.com previously reported.
“All the fake pages discovered are almost identical in terms of design, but the URL and page code are unique each time and contain personal user records. If a victim decides to click on any link in the article, they are taken to a bitcoin investment platform website, where their data, contained in the URL, will already be pre-populated in the registration form without the user’s consent. Later, a victim will be asked to add to their account balance in BTC, “the researchers detailed. Bleepingcomputer noted that “targets can create an account and activate it for a modest fee of 0.03 BTC [$274]. “
According to the intelligence company, the source of the leak has not been established, but the information has been provided to the relevant authorities in the affected countries.
What do you think about this bitcoin scam that filters people’s personal data? Let us know in the comments section below.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Group-IB
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