SilentPush security researchers discovered a detailed crypto fraud attempt aimed at the 2024 US presidential election and high-profile tech figures while tracking a notorious threat actor associated with Russia.
These scammers are launching domains promising bogus Bitcoin and Ethereum prizes, and they've made use of some prominent individuals for marketing their scam.
Users are duped into sending cryptocurrencies to scammer-controlled wallets, enticed by the promise of double returns.
Spoiler alert: no one becomes rich, except the scammers.
Over the previous six months, scammers have used the likenesses of well-known US politicians and industry executives.
Everyone from previous President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook has had their faces plastered on websites advertising these fake giveaways.
Some websites even include forged legal letters from US government organizations, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to give the scam an official, trustworthy appearance.
The security experts discovered these dubious sites registered using a Russian email address—which, of course, screams credibility.
These domains are hidden behind CAPTCHA gates, and some have chat services that walk victims through the process of “claiming” their double-your-money prizes.
Even while Cloudflare has taken down some of these sites, many others remain active, ready to fleece the next naive person who believes they've found the Bitcoin jackpot.
One of the domains, posing as a Donald Trump debate page, requests that users deposit Ethereum money to a fake wallet.
There are also faked pages for companies such as Apple and SpaceX, with similar messages inviting users to “participate” in bogus contests.
What's even more disturbing is the connection between these scams and the next US election.
The scammers plainly believe that utilizing the names of presidential contenders and IT titans will make their schemes appear more respectable to voters.
Crypto giveaways that claim to be backed by well-known individuals are usually fake unless they explicitly stated so on their verified social media pages.
So, if anything seems too good to be true, especially when it comes to cryptocurrencies, it almost certainly is. Keep your Ethereum to yourself, people.