If you’ve been following Coinfomania’s scam alert section, then you’ve likely read our warning regarding fake giveaways promising crypto newbies that they’d get double, or more the amount of cryptocurrency they send to a certain address.
Well, it appears an unknown Twitter user fell for such a scheme, tagging Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), and the official Binance account in a tweet saying he sent them some bitcoin and was expecting to get it back.
@cz_binance @binance I sent you bitcoin today,6hours ago,but still haven’t get back my bitcoin from you.
Can you check it ?
Or I was fooled? pic.twitter.com/UNyosvJtof— SHOYA (@S_H_O_Y_ca) January 14, 2020
Per information available via the update, the fraudsters running the scheme promised to spend 10x the amount of bitcoins that users deposit to a designated wallet address.
Pictures detached from a previous ask-me-anything (AMA) session conducted by CZ was also featured to make the scheme appear as legitimate while 0.1+ BTC was cited as the lowest amount that users can send to the fraudulent address.
It also appeared that the unfortunate victim caught the fake giveaway thread on Instagram, leading up to his sending the exactly unknown amount to the perpetrators.
This guy.@binance @YouTubeJapan @instagram pic.twitter.com/DULM5rgG97
— SHOYA (@S_H_O_Y_ca) January 14, 2020
Crypto fraudsters often use social media platforms including Facebook, Telegram, and Twitter to carry out their schemes, meaning that newbies need to be alert to anyone suddenly asking them to send their crypto in exchange for double or even a slightly higher amount.
Although CipherTrace is currently planning to train students on how to track and recover stolen cryptocurrencies, the costs usually involved in recovering low amounts if at all possible, means a better approach is to be cautious of attempts to defraud you of your hard-earned crypto.
