It's good to be careful when you get a link in an email or WhatsApp that entices a bitcoin prize. Because security company Kaspersky discovered new cybercrime activity on behalf of a well-known company that distributed digital coin prizes.
"Crypto scams using photos of celebrities, or famous brands are on the rise
lately. We saw campaigns in the name of Elon Musk, Bill Gates,
and Pavel Durov. This time, the attacker went a step further, creating a fake site
on behalf of the Nvidia CEO and connecting the site to a special company event," said Olga Svistunova, security expert at Kaspersky.
Kaspersky experts found hackers intentionally created a fake website labeled Celebration
Nvidia Company 30th Anniversary, visitors can participate and have a chance
get a total prize of 50 thousand bitcoins. In order to trick their victims, they use the wrong Nvidia logo from green to purple.
The page displays a "Participate" button when clicked will take the visitor to the next page which contains detailed information on the distribution of prizes - however, there are many spelling errors, which are not commonly found at a leading company like Nvidia.
This page entices victims to donate some money before winning
present. In this page also exposed photos of Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia.
Nvidia's 30th anniversary fake website. Photo: Kaspersky
Successful participants will be notified that they can double the donation
or even get a 'jackpot' of 50 thousand bitcoins. The page includes crypto wallet credentials for users to send their 'donations'.
The scammers' wallets can be checked on the blockchain.com site, however, the total account balance is
0.42 BTC (equivalent to 8,495 USD) - much less than the 50K bitcoin that
advertised. It is uncertain whether the amount there has been shaped by donations or not, but some transactions from unknown senders can be tracked in the account history.
"Our main advice is to be careful browsing the links you follow on the internet, and avoid donations of any kind from untrusted sources," Olga said.
To avoid fraud, store funds and personal data carefully, Experts
Kaspersky suggests a few simple steps:
Check each link before clicking. See URL for misspelling or
other oddities.
Sometimes, fake sites look just like the real thing. Depends on how sophisticated
this criminal made it. Hyperlinks often have errors - often
got a misspelling of the word - but the link can look authentic too
and take you to a different page, imitating the original site.
To protect your data and finances, make sure you always check out or log out
(log out) from your payment account. You will know if the site URL starts
from HTTPS, which is usually HTTP; the lock icon also often appears next to the URL
and the address bar, usually shown in green in some browsers.
If you don't see this feature, don't do any activity.
Use a trusted security solution that can help check
security of the URLs you visit, this product can also help you
access any site in protection mode to avoid theft
personal data, including financial details.