Crypto Villains Target iPhone 13 Launch With Old Runescape Gambling, Score $ 69,000 Coupon

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As always, the impending release of a new iPhone is struggling to contain their hunger for gadgets. Hype is always something else with Apple products, and as much as I use several and love things, there’s a reason its fanbase extremes are so easy to caricature. Apple can do it all! Maybe: but one thing it sure won’t do is double your Bitcoin.

Several years ago, there was a series of YouTube scams based on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, tricking users into accessing genuine websites through ads, essentially. This tactic appeared to have been reversed but returned in a new form with the reveal of Apple iPhone 13. As online security firm ZScaler reported, a channel designed to look like Apple’s official livestream was released. alongside the actual launch and attracted some 16,000 viewers. The channel was put together in a reasonably sophisticated fashion with proper logos and wording, as it had 1.3 million subscribers.

(Image credit: Thianchai Sitthikongsak / Getty)

The channel linked a website several times during the event, which was again designed to look like Apple’s official website (including having “apple” in the URL) except – and it’s amazing that people fell in love with it, right – this bizarroland Apple was apparently offering to donate 1,000 Bitcoin (there was also an Ethereum option). That’s roughly $ 42 million or £ 31 million worth of crypto.

Runescape and EVE players will enjoy the next part, in which the mechanic of the giveaway is that users have to send bitcoin to a wallet address, with the promise that they will be doubled and returned. The “double money” scam has been around forever in Runescape and is as simple as it sounds: you promise to double all the money given to you, then … walk away with it instead.

Guess what? In fact, any crypto sent to the fake Apple wallet was not returned. According to ZScaler, the account received 1.48299884 bitcoin, worth approximately $ 69,000. As the fraudsters would undoubtedly say: nice. Here are some live images of what’s going on.

(Image credit: Jagex)

More seriously, this is just another reminder of the pre-internet rule that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

And while it can be easy to chuckle at the idea of ​​people falling for these scams, we all do stupid things and are all potential victims. The reason this one worked is that it used Apple’s own strengths, the blinding excitement generated around a new product launch, and the company’s ability to make surprise announcements, and coordinated the attack with live footage of Tim Cook and others speaking. It might be ugly, but it certainly isn’t stupid.

Now I would like to announce the launch of the new PC Gamer Dollar Doubling Service, which will be administered by myself.

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