On average, a striking 300% increase is astonishing, and the report proved how common targets included users fluent in English and Spanish. Moreover, the actors behave as celebrity deepfakes and get the job done in a manner that’s extremely deceptive.
The news comes to us thanks to a cybersecurity researchers’ firm named Group-IB. And they’ve managed to identify around 2000 domains that were produced just this year and for this particular malicious intent.
In the recently published report, we get more news about how these fake giveaways entailing cryptocurrency have risen nearly 5 times, which is in stark comparison to what we witnessed last year.
On average, the sites have a reach that goes up to 15,000 viewers. And if we do take such data to be correct, you’ll be amazed to find out that around 30 million individuals. Interestingly, the report even highlights how top domains that most people deem trustworthy were also included.
Researchers then went on to shed light on how the scammers attempted to target a few video platforms so they could better promote their scams via live streams. And the icing on the cake was to entail top celeb deepfake names like Elon Musk and Cathie Wood, among so many others.
YouTube ranked number one on the list, closely followed by Twitch taking second place.
These promotional streams were seen arising from a few accounts that were hijacked by others involved in the scam. And such accomplices have even rewarded a share for their hard work that could go up to 50% of the earnings made.
Experts delineated that those channels that had more subscribers were the ones that were targeted the most as it was more difficult to block out such events. Remember, the bigger the audience involved, the greater the number of reports required to activate YouTube’s flagging system of moderation.
So many campaigns featuring leading names in the world of showbiz and entertainment, including prominent faces like Cristiano Ronaldo and Nayib Buckele were featured on the front.
This just goes to show how active such scammers have turned out to be in this field and how they’re not taking up new developments under their wing to promote scams in the most real manner imaginable.
But what is the reason for such a massive influx of scams arising spontaneously? Well, sources believe the main reason definitely has to do with easy tools for such things being available. Hence, with the right arsenal in store, crypto giveaways are made to appear as real as possible. And they take advantage of vulnerable victims keen on making a quick buck online.
Despite such scammers having poor technical skills, they still manage to do the job great, thanks to the tools in the store.
In the same way, the forums through which such activities are carried out are also very well developed. It’s actually nothing less than a marketplace. It’s very luring and common for people with zero knowledge of crypto to get involved and target others in this way.
As far as costs related to making this scam a success are concerned, you can get a good deepfake for just $30. Meanwhile, a complete design for a crypto scam arises at $300, and manuals cost just $100. Toolkits arise between $500 to $1500 each month.
To stay safe, well, simply be vigilant of such scams. Remember to never trust anyone portraying a giveaway of this kind, and if you’re interested in promotions, do conduct a background check.
A little safety and awareness can help you save thousands of dollars. So avoid giving out sensitive details because you never know how and where they end up being used.
Also, any promotion that entails a leading celebrity is not always authentic. Be aware that deepfakes do exist, and they’re out to get vulnerable targets like you. Go through the channel’s history and verify its name. If it’s not on the celeb’s official channel, then it’s likely to be fake.
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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World
