Hackers have found another way to steal cryptocurrencies from sophisticated investors. How do they do it?
In September 2024 Ledger spokesman Ian Rogers voiced a curious thought. According to him, hackers are stealing noticeably more digital assets just the time of the bullrun. The reason for this is not only the increase in the rates of popular assets, but also the relaxation of investors who get distracted by the numbers in their portfolio and forget about security. Coin holders are now really finding themselves on the radar of fraudsters who are coming up with more and more new ways to steal assets.
The day before, the topic of cryptocurrency security was commented on by Mitchell Amador, the founder of ImmuneFi. He noted that today the hacking of decentralised finance platforms can be considered a real job for hackers.
And although the total volume of stolen coins on a yearly basis is getting smaller, scammers are still not sleeping. And now they are trying to cause as much damage to the industry as possible, earning the maximum in the scale of the selected incident.
Cryptocurrency hacker
Some hackers, however, are content with a small booty. They actively leverage artificial intelligence to develop the websites and content needed to popularise the fraudulent applications they have developed.
How coins are stolen from cryptocurrency wallets
The experts of the security platform Cado Security Labs shared about the current trend for stealing other people’s coins. According to their data, fraudsters use artificial intelligence to develop fake company websites. They are also trying to get employees of blockchain companies to download fake dating apps that actually steal information.
This involves generating and populating websites along with social media accounts that create the appearance of a popular existing company. These are then used to contact potential victims who are encouraged to install the software to connect with new people.
Cryptocurrency scammers
The app is called Meeten, although it can now be found as Meetio. The list of previous names for the programme includes combinations of Clusee.com, Cuesee, Meeten.gg, Meeten.us and Meetone.gg, Cointelegraph reports.
All the listed versions of the software have one thing in common: the app contains an inbuilt data hunter called Realst inside. Its task is to look for sensitive user data like Telegram authorisation information, bank card numbers, and cryptocurrency wallet data.
Once such combinations are detected, they are sent to the attacker, according to Tara Gould, head of threat research at Cado. The programme can also look for cookies and autofill data in Google Chrome and Mircosoft Edge browsers, analysts note. They also mention information about Ledger, Trezor and Binance Wallet, although this is likely to be the addresses used along with their balances.
For a change, scammers can use social engineering techniques and so-called spoofing. For example, one user previously reported an attempt by an acquaintance to reach out on the pretext of discussing various business opportunities. However, during the conversation, it became clear that there was another person on the other side of the screen.
Gould commented on this incident and its importance.
Of particular note here is that the scammer sent him an investment presentation from the victim’s company, indicating a complex and targeted deception scheme.
Other users noted that they received calls from strangers offering possible employment with Web3 companies. The victims then downloaded the offered programmes and lost their coins from hot wallets, which feature a constant internet connection.
Cryptocurrency investor
To gain the trust of victims, scammers are enabled by established company websites, blogs and content created with the help of artificial intelligence. They also include accounts on social network X and publications on the Medium platform.
And while the potential for AI to develop malware has been a key focus recently, attackers are increasingly using AI to create content as part of their campaigns.
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According to Tara Gould, AI capabilities allow scammers to create realistic content to fill websites, making it much harder to spot malicious resources.
In turn, these sites not only offer to download malware, but also contain Javascript to steal digital assets from wallets inside web browsers. And the latter’s capabilities are activated even before any software is downloaded.
Buying cryptocurrency by investors
Although fraudsters are always present in the field of cryptocurrencies, this does not make digital assets a bad thing. However, this is definitely not the view of coin hater and gold fan Peter Schiff, who is known for his criticism of crypto.
The day before, he called Bitcoin a threat to national security. Here’s the retort, as quoted by CryptoPotato.
Bitcoin has become a threat to national security. It’s one thing when individuals voluntarily spend their money to buy Bitcoin. But it crosses the line when they bribe government officials to squander public funds to buy it. BTC is now public enemy number one.
Apparently, this is how Schiff commented on an initiative to possibly create a national Bitcoin reserve in the US. It involves the purchase of a million coins and their further storage on government wallets without moving.
However, Peter's words regarding cryptocurrencies should hardly be taken seriously. Still, earlier he repeatedly predicted the collapse of BTC - especially after large-scale market crashes. However, in the end, Bitcoin updated its all-time highs, no matter what.
For more interesting stuff, check out our crypto chat. We are definitely looking forward to seeing you there right now.
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