In the latest wave of cybercrime, Cryptocurrency Users lost more than $4 million in funds to crypto criminals. Many of the thefts have been carried out through phishing sites advertised in Google Ads.
These scam websites mimic legitimate encryption platforms to trick unsuspecting users into entering login credentials, private keys, or other sensitive information.
Once criminals have this information, they can access users’ cryptocurrency wallets and steal their digital assets. Sadsniffer, a Web3 anti-fraud service provider, recently reported several malicious ads of phishing sites on Google Ads searches.
Over the past month, scammers have seen 276% profit from their illegal activities due to the number of users affected and the money they used to promote their fraudulent ads.
These bad actors have affected many decentralized finance protocols, websites, and brands, including DefiLlama, Lido, Orbiter Finance, Radiant, Stargate, and Zapper. Scammers have targeted DeFi users who find it difficult to determine that they have clicked on malicious links due to minor changes in the official URLs.
Said deception:
When you open a malicious Zapper ad, you can see that it is trying to obtain my $SUDO authorization using the permit signature. At present, many wallets do not have clear risk warnings for this type of signature. Ordinary users may think that it is a normal login signature and sign without thinking twice.
Crypto scammers have used many tactics to conduct these scams
The CaseSniffer message indicates that fraudsters have implemented a range of techniques to evade the Google Ads review process, including manipulation of the Google Click ID parameter, use of anti-debugging techniques, and use of parameter highlighting. These methods allow scammers to display a legitimate web page during Google’s ad review process.
Scamsniver’s analysis of addresses linked to fraudulent websites promoted by scammers reveals that cryptocurrency users have lost approximately $4.16 million in the past month, with more than 3,000 people affected by the scams. Additionally, the anti-fraud measures tracked the movement of funds on the blockchain to various exchanges and mash-ups, such as SimpleSwap, Tornado Cash, KuCoin, and Binance.
The scammers spent nearly $15,000 to advertise their websites, getting a 40% conversion rate from 7,500 users clicking on the malicious ads. Metadata analysis of several phishing sites linked the responsible advertisers to two major sites: Ukraine and Canada.
Phishing attacks are on the rise within the crypto space
Cryptocriminals have previously exploited Web2 tools and services to steal money from Web3 users. For example, in 2020, they hacked the Twitter accounts of prominent figures, including Elon Musk, who asked users to claim free crypto tokens via links to a malicious website.
Scammers have repeatedly used phishing attacks to steal cryptocurrency funds from users. DeFi, in particular, remains a favorite target for hackers, with more than $3.7 billion embezzled in 2022 alone.
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com
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