Crypto giveaway scam with 1,000+ websites claims to make $5M
A crypto giveaway scam utilizing a network of more than 1,000 fraudulent websites has reportedly stolen more than $5 million from victims since 2021. According to research published last week by IT security expert Trend Micro, the Scam , run by the Russian-speaking group Impulse Team, is said to have some linked sites going as far back as 2016. “This massive campaign has likely resulted in thousands of people being Scam med worldwide,” Trend Micro said. The operation tricked users on social media platforms, including Twitter, TikTok, and Mastodon, into believing they’d won a crypto giveaway. They were then convinced to open an account on one of the scam websites and enter a promo code that they were told would guarantee them a prize of 0.78632 bitcoin (over $20,000) . An Impulse Team Telegram channel with bots documenting transactions made to the scam websites. However, to authenticate the account, users were required to make an initial deposit worth 0.01 bitcoin (around...