“Fake Coins: Scams with cryptocurrencies” awareness campaign about scams in the crypto environment

“Fake Coins: Scams with cryptocurrencies” is the name of the communication campaign created by the CibEl@ cooperation and the European Union  program “El PAcCTO” in order to make a call to attention to all those users who are immersed or who are about to delve into the crypto world and are not fully aware of the scam risks that you may face.

The campaign is promoted and published on the website of the Ministry of the Interior of Uruguay with the intention of raising awareness about it by mentioning the most common scam protocols within Latin America and the European Union and what each one deals with so that users are able to identify them if they find themselves in that situation.

In the campaign they mention five groups of types of scams and each one has its way of operating. They are: scams using the image of celebrities, pyramid schemes, scams through simulation or impersonation, false promotions in e-mail and scams through seduction.

• Scams using the image of celebrities

Also named in the campaign as “CelebriCoin”, it is a scam method in which cybercriminals adopt the identity of a celebrity in order to use the reach and influence that individual has to send a message in which they claim to win big amounts of money in a short time.

• Pyramid Recruitment Scams

“PiramiCoin” is about attracting more and more people to invest in a certain project with a certain cryptocurrency by promising a subsequent payment, which will not be made and the investment made will only end up benefiting the creators of said “project” which is actually a scam pyramid.

• Scams through simulation or impersonation

“Webcoin”: This form of scam has different representations, one of them can be the creation of false wallets digital on websites managed by scammers, another is that the perpetrators use the image of some financial institution in which the user is registered to ask for personal data and thus access their accounts and another way can also be by offering a service of cryptocurrency exchange that is really fake and is used only to steal digital assets from the user.

“AppCoin”: This case is similar to the previous one, it is about the creation of false applications that are shown as digital wallets or even pretend to be one of the real investment applications.

• False promotions in the e-mail

“MailCoin”: To carry out this method, scammers send emails in which they promise a series of benefits such as “quickly multiplying your investment or even offering the first free cryptocurrencies” they also often include false testimonials from celebrities.

In general, this email will bring with it a web address that will redirect the user to a portal to which they must be registered, in the same way it is possible to receive an email asking for a password change.

• Scams by seduction

“BesuCoin/DonjuanCoin/KissCoin”: To carry out this type of fraud method, the perpetrator must seduce the victim to get her to make an investment in cryptocurrencies. This method is commonly done through the dating app Tinder and when the victim makes the “investment” they are actually giving their money to the scammer.