A report issued by Group-IB, a Singapore-based cybersecurity firm, found an explosion in the number of cryptocurrency frauds using fake domains in the first half of 2022 The number of these domains has increased five-fold. The number of these domains has increased five-fold and most of these campaigns, although registered with Russian registrars, are designed to reach crypto investors in English and Spanish-speaking countries.
The number of domains associated with crypto fraud increased enormously in the first half of 2022
The number of domains used to run cryptocurrency scams proliferated in the first half of 2022. According to a report released by Singapore-based online security firm Group-IB, the number of these domains used as welcome pages for Youtube scam streams increased five-fold in the first half of this year. More than 2,000 of these domains have been registered.
Most of these cryptocurrency scam sites use the names of well-known figures associated with cryptocurrencies to attract victims. These include El Salvador’s President Nive Boukere, famous soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, and other known cryptocurrency supporters such as Michael Saylor and Elon Musk.
More than 60% of these domains are registered through Russian companies, but are aimed at their primary target, the Spanish and English-speaking community of cryptocurrency investors.
Youtube Fake Crypto Stream Market
The growth of this type of scam is due to the existence of a dedicated underground market that sells all the software necessary to establish fake Youtube hosted crypto streams and the possible due to the high level of attention they receive. Most of these can reach an average of 10,000-20,000 viewers and are attracted by keywords such as; ETHArk, Shiba,; XRP; and so on. In this regard, Group IB states,:
Fraudsters have at their disposal hacked Youtube account exchange platforms, viewer boosting services, manuals, website editors, admin panel developers, domain names, bulletproof hosting, tools and people who can create deepfake videos.
Deepfakes have become an effective tool for hackers, even successfully creating live holograms of exchange employees to fool token team representatives and collect fees for potential listing opportunities.
There are also services to create these web pages and art to attract people to invest in these scams. The company recommends that users be wary of crypto giveaways that are too truthful and always make sure that the sources promoting these are official.
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