No place on the Internet is safe. Even Twitter has become an arena of free access for hackers who try to use strategies, not always very intelligent, to defraud users of thousands of euros, or in this case, cryptocurrencies. The team of analysts of the cybersecurity and digital privacy company Kasperskyhas detected a new problem that is worth reviewing.
We talk about cryptocurrency theft by direct message from Twitter. It is curious, but in addition to talking about politics, the economy, soccer and even sending suggestive content, there are users who use this tool as a platform to carry out their massive scams.
In this case, help is requested to withdraw hundreds of thousands of dollars from the cryptocurrency account of a stranger in exchange for financial compensation in the form of interest. To do this, the scammers ask the victim to believe, and of course pay out of her pocket, a VIP account in a domain controlled by themselves to withdraw said amount, since from their account they find problems to carry out the transaction.
It’s strange how someone can fall for such an ill-conceived scam, but of the more than 400 million monthly active users With those that Twitter has, it is easy to fool someone. The attacker provides the user with a domain, his password and username, as well as the amount of cryptocurrencies he has in his wallet (hundreds of millions of dollars, by the way).
When does the scam start?
From the moment the victim agrees to help and enters a supposed cryptocurrency investment platform. From there she becomes a puppet in the hands of the swindler. He does everything that has been asked of him: he enters the username and password that he has been given and accesses with ease to check his balance.
The situation begins to get complicated when, when withdrawing cryptocurrencies, the victim is forced to provide your wallet address and an additional password that you do not have. At that time, the platform offers you a provisional way to transfer the funds within the system by creating a VIP account.
However, to create such a VIP account you must pay a small amount of money. From the moment you enter your wallet to pay the VIP account, all your funds are stolen. The victim, who was going to help a third person and obtain an unexpected benefit, is left with nothing. You are paying to be scammed!
Kaspersky focuses on blockchain, which allows cybercriminals to steal funds from victims without leaving a trace. In the end, it is the most widespread new scam method, since the irruption of the Dark Web and the full expansion of cryptocurrencies are causing more and more users to open their own wallets.
Basic recommendations
From Kaspersky they ask us not to trust this type of message, especially when the page we access does not exactly contribute reliability Y confidence. It is a rather poorly designed website, and the only contact method is an email, but no names or images of the creators. In this sense, the security company advises:
- Distrust if the message prompts us to act urgently. To do this, they usually include keywords such as ‘urgent’ or ‘immediate action required’ in the subject to put pressure on the victim.
- Do not trust even someone you know. Their accounts have been previously hacked. It is recommended to be cautious with links and attachments.
- React correctly to spam. Do not reply or click on these types of messages, and when in doubt, delete them. If we reply, the scammers will see that the account is active and send us more spam. If we click on any of them we will be falling into the error of downloading malware or starting a phishing attack.
- Install a security tool. In this way we will be able to automatically solve the problems, since they will notify us whenever an event of this type occurs.
Kaspersky security expert Andy Kovtun asks users to provide the maximum security to your accounts, wallets and coins, since it is a problem that will evolve and, for the moment, it is not expected that it will end. In fact, quite the contrary, it is expected that the attacks will be perfected over time.
