Phishing scams are not recent hurdles in the blockchain world. Since the emergence of Bitcoin as the pioneering blockchain technology in 2009; cryptocurrency has experienced several duplicitous activities perpetrated by scammers. Initially, phishing attacks centered around emails, fake profiles, and website scams. However, as cryptocurrency gained momentum, complex approaches for crypto fraudulent activities such as phishing scams also advanced.
From the Bitfinex phishing attack of 2016 where over 120,000 BTC were stolen, to the Binance API phishing attack of 2018, which was although, later reversed, to the Coinbase phishing campaign to users in 2019; these scams have created sophisticated approaches for blockchain scammers to defraud their victims. So, what exactly are these crypto phishing scams? In this article, we’ll explore what they are, how they operate, and how to spot-secure your wallet from future attacks.
What is Crypto Phishing?
Crypto phishing involves scammers impersonating reputable crypto companies or sending fraudulent messages or requests to gain unauthorized access to your funds. The request can contain personal information such as the wallet credentials, secret phrases, or personal credentials required to log in or authenticate your wallet.
How Does Crypto Phishing Work?
Phishers can lure you to submit wallet keys or profile IDs via fake support desks, social media posts or a look-alike website of a reputable crypto company. They can manipulate you to download fake and compromised wallets or connect your wallet to a scam website to drain it.
Once they access your account, they transfer the wallet’s available tokens to another wallet or move the funds to a different platform. Sometimes, they can purchase tokens on your account and transfer them to other wallets if it’s connected to a payment method.
What are the Types of Crypto Phishing Scams?
Phishing attacks are increasing, and attackers are constantly developing new methods of tricking their victims. However, here are the common types of crypto phishing scams:
1. Fake Emails
Phishers can create an identical email address of a reputable crypto company to persuade you to click malicious links. These emails can vary through one or a few spelling errors.
In the body of the email, scammers can request urgent security setups, urgent verification or offer a bonus that can trick you into clicking on their scam links.
2. Look-Alike-Websites
Scammers can create an identical website of a reputable crypto company to wallet-drain you. For instance, they can change the “.io” of a domain to “.com” or a “.org” to “.xyz” etc. Sometimes, they can have a misspelling in-between that makes it difficult for you to notice. They often try to lure you via opportunities such as airdrops, bounties, giveaways, get-rich-quick schemes etc. or urgent prompts that can arouse fear in your mind to take quick actions before missing out.
Attackers can use a malicious link to request your credentials, and seed phrases or infect your devices with malware to gain illegitimate access to your wallet.
3. Fake Social Media and Account Hijacks
Nowadays, phishers use crypto platforms such as Twitter, Telegram, and Discord to exploit users. They can create a look-alike social account to post malicious links concerning airdrop claims, verification, or giveaways. On Twitter, they can spam the comment session of a reputable crypto page with a fake registration or claim link, especially when these reputable accounts make an important project announcement.
Discord scammers can use a malicious bot to post scam content and links in a channel. Sometimes, scammers can hijack a project’s social media account and share phishing links with the community. For instance, a Discord channel can experience an “invite link expired” scenario with a malicious takeover afterward.
4. Fake Support and Help Desk
There are several atrocities that scammers perpetrate on social media. Sometimes, they can masquerade as customer support or community helpers on platforms like Telegram and Discord to breach your wallet security for their self-serving purposes.
On Twitter, phishers can target you through your complaints. These scammers comment with fake help desk accounts to offer assistance. Other platforms like Discord and Telegram can be arduous for crypto phishing attackers to infiltrate. However, they still navigate these challenges despite several community announcements and warnings. Scammers in this situation can pretend to be moderators or knowledgeable community members willing to assist you. They can send you a direct message with the end goal of wiping your wallet.
How to Recognize a Crypto Phishing Scam
Phishing attacks can occur when certain red flags are overlooked. However, paying attention to the characteristics can help you identify these scams early. Here are some common ways to spot a crypto phishing scam:
1. Spelling and Grammatical Errors
Crypto phishing scams can contain solecism. Due to desperation, scammers can send illicit messages in a language they’re less conversant in and can’t write fluently or natively. As a result, their writings can contain spelling and grammatical errors.
2. Request for Private Information
Scammers can request private keys, seed phrases or passwords from you to access your crypto wallet. They can want to pressure or manipulate you to share your personal information during conversations or request these details through suspicious websites.
3. Urgent Malicious Messages
Phishing attackers can bombard you with sales messages or required updates of apps, dApps or wallet extensions. They are often desperate in their texts and want you to make prompt decisions so they can quickly siphon your funds.
4. Customer representatives Requesting for Private Key or Seed Phrases
Customer support doesn’t require personal information such as private keys or seed phrases to render assistance. If any of them request such information, it can indicate a potential scam. These attackers can send a malicious link or propose to help you reset your wallet.
5. Browser Warnings
Internet browsers often display certain notifications when you connect to suspicious websites. Crypto phishing websites can lack an SSL certificate that trusted websites do, or even be blocked by your ad blocker or browser when you try to connect.
6. Common Phishing Signatures
Crypto phishing attacks can contain certain phishing signatures on crypto websites or wallets. Some of them consist of the following:
General
• eth_sign
Token
• Increase allowance
• Permit / Uniswap Permit2
• Approve / Transfer / Swap
• Apecoin – withdraw
• GMX – signalTransfer
Native Token
• SecuritvUpdate
• Claim / ClaimRewards
• NetworkMerge
• Accept / Verify / Connect
How to Prevent Crypto Phishing Scams
Crypto phishing scams are high-risk phishing attacks that can result in financial turmoil. Therefore, ensure you take the necessary precautions while transacting on the blockchain. There are several security measures to stay safe from crypto phishing attacks and here are some of them:
Avoid Crypto Get-Rich-Quick Schemes
Cryptocurrency is a lucrative industry that frequently offers new opportunities for investors. However, scammers exploit the market to lure investors into becoming victims. These crypto scammers develop absurd trading or investment strategies that can trigger you to commit your coins or tokens.
However, you as a crypto user must take precautions and exercise discernment while considering investment opportunities in the cryptocurrency world. Avoid opportunities that promise outrageous returns and sound too good to be true. Therefore, always DYOR (Do Your Own Research) on cryptocurrency projects rather than buying based on higher returns or recommendations.
Never Disclose Account or Wallet Information
Your private keys and seed phrases provide a gateway to your blockchain wallets and should be stored safely in a soft or hard wallet. Those data are personal and shouldn’t be shared with any moderator or customer support.
Strong and Password Variations on Websites
Your passwords should have good strength and be unpredictable. Protect your wallets with a strong password, and ensure that these passwords have variations across different websites. This can prevent scammers from accessing multiple wallets when one is compromised. For instance, your Twitter or wallet password should differ from their other passwords because once a phishing attack occurs on either of the websites, scammers can try those passwords on your other account and withdraw your assets.
Enable Two Factor Authenticator
Utilizing Two Factor Authenticator apps like Google Authenticator can prevent scammers from infiltrating your wallets, especially on centralized exchanges. Once a password is compromised, it’s easier for scammers to access your wallet and withdraw funds. However, authenticators serve as a safeguard from breaching such security further. When your account is authenticated, you have to approve every transaction with the help of temporary codes, which can prevent scammers from gaining easy access to your wallet.
Enable Ad Blocks, Antivirus and Bookmark URLs
Phishing attacks can occur via website advertisement or malware and can pose a potential threat to your wallet. However, Ad Blocks and antivirus can protect you from becoming a victim. Also, follow crypto projects on their official channels like Twitter and Discord, where they include their official links. After this, bookmark their website URLs on your browser to prevent falling victim to look-alike websites.
Disconnect Wallets From crypto Websites and Revoke Transactions
Connecting wallets through websites, apps, or browser extensions to different crypto websites can increase your susceptibility to phishing attacks. Therefore, ensure to disconnect your wallet from websites after transactions.
Once you identify phishing signatures, revoke approvals and app permissions on the wallet to protect your accounts from hacks and scams. You can easily mitigate risks via wallet settings. In the “connected apps”, you can select any suspicious app and select the “Disconnect” option. Wallets operating on the Ethereum network can require you to use revoke access tools to revoke token approvals or smart contract allowances.
Conclusion
Crypto phishing scams are advancing, and a crypto user should be more diligent in security and investment decisions in today’s world. Through emails, social media, compromised websites, etc. It’s now easier to fall victim. However, discernment, wallet authentication, password strength, and variations, antivirus, etc. are some safety precautions to prevent phishing attacks.
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