- Meta’s freshly launched microblogging service, Threads, is witnessing a concerning rise in phony accounts that endanger the robust cryptocurrency community.
- Prominent figures in the crypto community, like Wombex Finance and nonfungible token influencer Leonidas, have alerted followers to fraudulent accounts bearing their names.
- Web3 security firm Beosin reported that phishing scams, a common technique employed by these online charlatans, pilfered a staggering $108 million in crypto assets in the first six months of this year.
The digital world can often feel like a battleground, with constant threats lurking in every corner. The newest theatre of this ongoing struggle is Meta’s novel microblogging platform, Threads, which has become a hotbed for online shysters, aiming to con the flourishing crypto society.
Threads, launched to the public on July 5, has seen a rapid influx of users, reaching a whopping 98 million in just a few days. Although still dwarfed by Twitter’s impressive user count of 450 million, Threads’ rising popularity cannot be discounted.
Unfortunately, this popularity has also caught the eye of cyber scammers. Numerous respected names within the crypto space have noticed a disturbing increase in bogus accounts on Threads. These swindlers clone profiles of other users or even their own, to con the unsuspecting public.
On July 8, Wombex Finance, a player in the decentralized finance realm, pointed out a fake account using its name on Threads. Wombex Finance, which doesn’t have a Threads account, warned followers about potential fraud. On a similar note, Leonidas, a well-regarded influencer in the nonfungible token (NFT) field, shared his worries with his 93,000 followers on July 7, revealing his move to create a Threads account to confront the imposters.
Machi Big Brother, aka Jeffrey Huang, spotted a counterfeit account on Threads as early as July 6, duplicating his Twitter identity. Although these questionable accounts haven’t shared any overtly malicious links yet, they predominantly focus on crypto-related content.
Twitter has long been an attractive platform for crypto scammers, who regularly hack into accounts of key figures and businesses to post harmful links. These traps often trick victims into divulging sensitive data, such as their crypto exchange login credentials or wallet seed phrases, or trick them into connecting to a wallet-draining smart contract.
In a sobering revelation, Beosin, a Web3 security firm, disclosed that these phishing cons have already snatched $108 million in crypto assets in just the first half of this year.
Cryptocurrency Scams Rock Social Media
In a series of devastating incidents that unfolded in 2022 and 2023, the digital landscape became a hunting ground for cryptocurrency con artists. Most notably, a cyberattack in February 2022 led to the loss of $320 million from the Wormhole cryptocurrency exchange. Various scamming tactics, ranging from Bitcoin investment schemes to rug pull scams, proliferated across social media, using phony celebrity endorsements as bait.
Meanwhile, the collapse of Celsius, a major crypto lender accused of operating as a Ponzi scheme, marked another low point. Opportunistic profiteers even exploited Ukraine’s acceptance of cryptocurrency donations. Notably, popular crypto game Axie Infinity saw $615 million vanish in a theft. Amid these high-profile cases, ordinary social media users, like a woman named Jane, were losing their life savings to scams. These troubling incidents underscore the urgent need for enhanced vigilance among users.
