Waterloo, Ontario is the first Canadian city to issue a general warning after 78 residents were duped by crypto scammers in 2020. According to Global News, Waterloo residents have lost more than $430,000 so far this year, with 29 of the 78 falling victim in July alone. As previously reported, fraudsters have been impersonating government officials, asking victims to deposit money in various Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs under the threat of legal ramifications. Scammers told one resident that more than 25 bank accounts had been opened under his name, and then used to launder money. He was instructed to deposit over …
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 …
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 …
A Dubai-based Canadian expat has been arrested for peddling an allegedly fraudulent “Sharia-compliant” cryptocurrency and a host of other get-rich-quick schemes. As Gulf News reported on Oct. 30, Aziz “Com” Mirza had cultivated for himself a reputation as an entrepreneur, mentor and Instagram influencer. He now sits in Al Awir jail after a complaint was filed with the Dubai Police by a UAE resident allegedly defrauded of $150,000 in one of Com’s schemes. The “Bitcoin of the Middle East” Com targeted a global audience, including retail investors from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Greece. In just one of …
Cybersecurity analyst Serpent has revealed his picks for the most dastardly crypto and non-fungible token (NFT) scams currently active on Twitter. The analyst, who has 253,400 followers on Twitter, is the founder of artificial intelligence and community-powered crypto threat mitigation system, Sentinel. In a 19-part thread posted on Aug. 21, Serpent outlined how scammers target inexperienced crypto users through the use of copycat websites, URLs, accounts, hacked verified accounts, fake projects, fake airdrops, and plenty of malware. One of the more worrisome strategies comes amid a recent spate of crypto phishing scams and protocol hacks. Serpent explains that the “Crypto …