I recently published a post titled Beware of Crypto Scams here on Publish0x. Scams involving crypto, specifically Bitcoin, have been around for years. But they continue to run rampant, even as the price is down 70% over the past year. My last post was inspired by a PTC ad I was directed to by Cointiply. I'm seeing that there are a lot of scams that are promoted this way. Here's the most recent one I've stumbled upon:
Bitcoin Exploit; sounds pretty legit...not! I didn't actually proceed to put in an address and see what would happen, but I'm pretty sure there's one of two ways this scam goes:
1. Enter your wallet address, which then instructs you to input your private keys so that the imaginary Bitcoins you selected to be generated can be transferred. Bam, the scammers now have access to all of your crypto.
2. Enter your wallet address, be instructed to send some sats to the scammers wallet to "cover network fees" while they will never send you anything back and have simply stolen your money.
Notice how they have a timer on there to make it seem like you need to act fast! I have said this before, and it rings true no matter how cliche it may sound -- if it's too good to be true, it is. No one will ever simply give away large amounts of Bitcoin. Ever.
Now, let's take a look at that wallet address they have listed in the example. It can actually be traced to founder Chun Wang. One of the top search results takes you to his BitcoinTalk.org profile, where you can see the wallet address listed:
Here's one of his first posts, highlighting a mining rig from 2011:
So why make a reference to this early Bitcoiner and his wallet on a scam website? My guess would be to gain legitimacy. After all, Wang's wallet has transacted a total of over $92 billion; it is very active and has over 83k transactions.
Be careful out there! Don't share your private keys with anyone and be weary of anyone or any site giving away large amounts of Bitcoin for free. Chances are, they aren't.
