Robocallers have upped their scam game and they’re after your crypto

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Professional scam organizations are targeting cryptocurrency users following the collapse of FTX, launching millions of robocalls and text messages in an effort to scam information and funds.

Clayton LiaBraaten, Senior Executive Advisor at Truecaller, an app that helps identify fraudulent callers and messages to Cointelegraph, scammers often follow crypto news closely to better prey on their victims:

Fraudsters like volatility and timeliness. Whenever they can try to ride the contours of something very disruptive in the market, they are very successful.

LiaBraaten said Truecaller also saw an increase in fraudulent communications related to Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies when the market began to become volatile in early 2022.

He added that agents ultimately looking to steal funds are sending out millions of robocalls and text messages trying to capture people’s fear, curiosity and sometimes generosity.

Phone numbers can be obtained in a variety of ways, including through data breaches that have leaked millions of numbers or vitools that collect information from social media platforms.

An impostor scam is most commonly seen by Truecaller, where a malicious actor will pretend to represent a help desk or similar entity of a major crypto exchange or company. Scammers will also post their phone numbers on fake copycat websites, trying to legitimize themselves.

According to LiaBraaten, young adults are more often targeted by fraudsters because there is so much information available about them because they post so much of it on social media.

They use the same ID for their Bitcoin forum as they do for their TikTok and on all these social media platforms […] It is very easy to build a data graph on these individuals and then start targeting them. There is so much material to social engineer against with younger generations.

The abundance of information people post online allows scammers to send pop-up messages or calls to their targets, making malicious communications more persuasive.

They’re great psychologists and social engineers, so they’ll try as much as possible to bring in something contextually relevant, LiaBraaten said.

According to LiaBraaten, the initial call or text will not necessarily result in financial fraud, with agents first attempting to acquire or confirm information about their target in an effort to build trust.

They build more and more character details and when they gather enough information, then yes, they will try to access your crypto wallet.

There are a lot of people who don’t really understand cryptocurrency, LiaBraaten said. They prey on the vulnerable, so very savvy cryptocurrency aficionados are unlikely to fall prey to them, as they are quite insightful about what they are doing and very cautious.

Related: Sam Bankman-Fried Tries To Fool Investors Hit By FTX

Regardless of a person’s ability to spot a scam, he said anyone calling or texting asking for personal information or passwords should not be engaged and only official channels should be used.

One of the worst things you can do is stay on the phone with these guys because their mission is to relieve you of your cryptocurrency. It just takes a vulnerable moment, a minute of questioning, and then they’re off to the races.

In February, Binance CEO Changpeng CZ Zhao sounded the alarm about a massive SMS phishing scam targeting Binance customers.

The scam involved sending users a text message with a link to reverse withdrawals, leading users to a fake website designed to harvest their login credentials.

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