In the first half of 2022, the number of domains used for cryptocurrency scams has increased by fivefold. Group-IB, an online security company based in Singapore, reported that the number of domains used to welcome YouTube scammers has increased fivefold over the past half-year. These domains have been registered more than 2,000 times.
Most of these cryptocurrency scam sites use the names of famous cryptocurrency-linked personalities to attract their victims. They include the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele and the famous soccer player Cristiano Rojo, along with other well-known cryptocurrency supporters such as Michael Saylor or Elon Musk.
These domains, which account for more than 60% of all domains, are registered by Russian companies. However, they are directed at Spanish and English-speaking communities of cryptocurrency investors, who are their primary targets.
This scam has grown due to the existence of an underground market that sells all the software needed to create a fake YouTube-hosted cryptocurrency stream. These streams reach between 10,000 and 20,000 viewers on average, with many of them being attracted by keywords like ETH, Ark Shiba, Shiba, XRP and others. Group-IB provided this information
Scammers have a number of tools available to them. These include an exchange platform for hacked YouTube channels, viewer-boosting services, manuals and website editors, developers of admin panels, manuals, site editors, manuals, manuals, domain names, bulletproof web hosting, tools and people who are able to create deepfake videos.
Deepfakes are effective tools for hackers who have created live Holograms of employees to fool token teams and get a fee to list their shares.
These services can also be used to create these websites and to draw people in to these frauds. Users are advised to be cautious about promoting crypto giveaways that seem too good to be true and verify that they are legitimate.
