In the US alone, over $55m has been stolen through SIM swapping attacks since 2018. NEM, a blockchain-based ecosystem, believes that decentralized apps could provide a meaningful solution to this problem. According to NEM, they’re working with a solution called “FIX Network”, which was established to help mobile subscribers secure private keys and transactions on SIM cards. The network leverages a blockchain-based protocol to support the security and privacy of mobile subscribers, NEM explains: “This unique architecture will allow mobile operators to deliver services such as digital identity management, cryptocurrency wallets, and personal data firewalls, all enabled by the safekeeping …

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC, is asking people to remain cautious about celebrity-endorsed Bitcoin (BTC) scam sites. According to the commission’s public warning, the Australian watchdog has received a number of reports of fraudulent crypto sites that claim to be endorsed by prominent businesses, new sites, and government agencies. Some even appear to have the endorsement of national celebrities like Waleed Aly, Mike Baird, Dick Smith, and Virginia Trioli. Crypto bot scams are active in Australia The ASIC outlined a number of examples as part of their warning. One example, Bitcoin Evolution, is a fake crypto trading …

Cybersecurity firms have identified an exponential rise in crypto-related scams in Russia during the first half of 2020. Researchers identified 23,000 sites involved with crypto scams that are still online and targeting new victims. According to Kommersant, which cited research from Kaspersky Labs, the problem is three times greater than during the same period last year. One common example sees victims offered the chance to complete surveys in order to receive commissions — however they’re required to pay an “entrance fee” fee first. Another scam, identified by Qrator Labs, involved sites that offered victims more than $275 per hour to …

Crypto terrorists threatened to bomb a government office on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. They told authorities that they would only disable the alleged explosive device if their crypto ransom was paid. According to FNN, the terrorists sent the Numata Town Hall an email stating they had installed a bomb in a women’s second-floor toilet. They claimed that as long as officials met their payment demands before 03:00 UTC on June 29, the bomb would not be detonated. However, this appears to have been a fake threat. The deadline set by the criminals has passed and the hall remains intact …

Last week Cointelegraph published a story about investors having difficulty getting their money back from a crypto fund called AMFEIX, which promised high-yield profits for investors who sent them Bitcoin (BTC). Our story described more than 500 pending withdrawals from users trying to get their money back, and AMFEIX’s unsatisfactory communication with those users. The company addressed its users via its official Telegram channel after the story was published, suggesting that the withdrawal delays were due to technical difficulties that had been an issue since May. It also stated that “members who show loyalty to AMFEIX will have priority” in …

Three Canadian citizens involved with an alleged initial coin offering scam from crypto project PlexCorps have been charged with fraud over conning investors out of $8 million. According to a July 24 statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Ohio, PlexCorps owners Dominic Lacroix and Sabrina Paradis-Royer as well as former employee Yan Ouellet were indicted on five charges, including conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The three were found to be responsible for transferring millions in investor funds obtained through an initial coin offering (ICO) …

According to Chainalysis, almost one million Bitcoin (BTC) is held by illicit actors in the space with over half being held by darknet markets. Bitcoin held by illicit entities. Source: Chainalysis. Illicit markets currently have 585,000 BTC in their possession, scams have 99,000 BTC, stolen funds constitute another 205,000 BTC, and all others hold an additional 3,000 BTC — a grand total of 892,000 BTC. According to Chainalysis, only 0.32% of all current Bitcoin flows are tainted by illicit activity. Laundering of illicit Bitcoins. Source: Chainalysis. Exchanges play a pivotal role Regardless of origin, the top destinations for illicit Bitcoin …

Ajey Nagar, a Popular Indian YouTuber with 6.7 million subscribers, is the latest victim of the ongoing BitCoin giveaway scam on Youtube. The hack happened on Nagar’s second Youtube channel- CarryisLive where he streams himself playing video games with YouTubers and celebrities. Two Bitcoin giveaway scam promotional videos were reportedly posted on the channel. Both videos displayed bitcoin addresses. One of the videos also featured an image of SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk supposedly giving away Bitcoin. The scammers were promising to double the Bitcoin sent to them. By press time, Ajey Nagar announced that his Youtube channel is …

Lawyers for Steve Wozniak and 17 other people adversely affected by fake Bitcoin giveaway scams on YouTube have sued the platform and parent company Google for not acting quickly to ban such content. According to a July 22 announcement from the law firm of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, Google and its subsidiary YouTube failed to protect users from fake Bitcoin (BTC) giveaway scam channels featuring images and videos of Wozniak and other celebrities. The hijacked channels run ‘giveaway’ scams stating that anyone who sends cryptocurrency to a certain address will receive much more cryptocurrency in return, when in fact they …

A number of people who invested in a cryptocurrency company are claiming that the company is scamming its users. The fund in question is called AMFEIX, which promised high-yield monthly returns to its users and supposedly raised more than $60 million in Bitcoin (BTC). At the end of June, Cointelegraph began receiving emails from AMFEIX users who had invested their funds into the project. These users claimed that there have been lots of pending withdrawal requests that have been delayed since May 2020. They also claim that the project's support team has been ambiguous in how it communicates with investors. …

YouTube’s legal team has argued the platform is immune from liability for cryptocurrency scams perpetrated as part of its video content or descriptions. Attorneys for Ripple and CEO Brad Garlinghouse filed a lawsuit against YouTube in April in response to the platform’s failure to stop XRP scammers and impersonators. Ripple argued that the platform benefits from the actions of the scammers by profiting from paid ads. But according to a July 21 update on Law360, lawyers for the video-sharing platform argued in a dismissal bid that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — which generally protects platform publishers from …

Cybersecurity experts are warning that the Twitter hack on July 15 shows that the social network needs to strengthen its security in order to avoid a worse black swan scenario with serious consequences. In the most recent incident, attackers launched a crypto giveaway scam by posting phishing messages through the hijacked profiles of celebrities and high-ranked political personalities worldwide, collecting over 13 Bitcoin (BTC) from the victims. The attack could have been worse Ilya Sachkov, CEO of threat intelligence firm Group-IB, believes the attack demonstrated a “huge problem of low financial literacy and bad cyber hygiene.” He told Cointelegraph: “This …