Canadian Bitcoin Educator Outwits Scammer, Donates Money to Charity

A Canadian Bitcoin (BTC) educator has scammed a crypto scammer and subsequently donated the money to charity.

As the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Aug. 7, Ben Perrin — a YouTuber who runs an education channel about cryptocurrencies and a marketing director at a Bitcoin exchange — received a scam message offering an investment scheme that would supposedly double his Bitcoin investment every 24 hours. Perrin told CBC News:

"I've come across a lot of these people before, they make ridiculous claims. In this case, every 24 hours, they guaranteed me a doubling of my Bitcoin, and said that if I would just send them some Bitcoin I could start seeing returns."

Perrin decided to outfox the swindler by pretending to be a newcomer to Bitcoin, not understanding what was happening. He faked a Bitcoin wallet statement and said that he had already received a better offer from someone else:

"I said that I would gladly invest $20,000 with them if they would simply send me $100 back, I could then return it to them, just to ensure that everything was legit."

As a result, the scammer sent $50 to Perrin, which the YouTuber further transferred to a philanthropic organization that helps people in Venezuela purchase food with digital currency. 

New crypto scam schemes are on the rise

According to a recent report from computer security firm Skybox Security, cryptocurrency ransomware, botnets and backdoors seem to have replaced cryptocurrency mining malware as the tool of choice for cybercriminals. The report notes:

“Vulnerabilities in container software have increased by 46% in the first half of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. Looking at the two year trend of container vulnerabilities published in first halves, container vulnerabilities have increased by 240%.”

In June, Cointelegraph reported that attackers reportedly had been exploiting a vulnerability in the Oracle WebLogic server to install Monero (XMR) mining malware, while using certificate files as an obfuscation trick.