cybercrime - Pwim.Net

IRS Hoping to Deanonymize Monero and ZCash Privacy Coins to Prevent Cybercrime

The Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is actively hiring private contractors to study and analyze privacy coins, as there has quite been a lot of fraudulent activities revolving around their usage.

Monero — a Popular Choice for Fraud

While the world has undergone coronavirus cybercriminals have been hard at work conducting their habitual illicit operations with the help of privacy coins.

Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) are quite an attractive option for cyber scammers, as they offer more anonymity and privacy than Bitcoin. The IRS is hoping to eventually deanonymize these privacy coins in order to put a halt to cyber fraud.

Why is Monero in Cybercrime?

XMR currently stands at the top of the list, for the most private cryptocurrencies on the market. Monero transactions operate on blockchain technology and are harder to trace, due in part to its ring signature and stealth addresses. Also, since Monero’s ledger is easy-to-access and is public, it is a popular choice that cybercriminals choose in order to carry out their illicit activities.

Zcash a Close Second

Another privacy coin that IRS is hoping to further investigate is Monero’s counter rival, Zcash. ZEC operates by using an anonymity tool called Zero-Knowledge-Proof, which allows users to transact with each other without revealing their true addresses to anyone.

In other words, this makes it hard for the receiver to trace and figure out the identity of the sender, and vice-versa. Because of its end-to-end-encryption property, Zcash users can remain anonymous despite conducting numerous online transactions.

Privacy Coins and Cybercrime

Privacy coins, such as Monero and Zcash, are common cryptocurrencies used in cybercriminal rings. In contrast, Bitcoin, which offers no anonymity, is less attractive to cyber scammers.

Depending on the privacy coin, anonymity levels differ. This type of cryptocurrency is attractive to cybercriminals, because it obfuscates the transacted amount, wallet addresses, the identities of both sender and receiver; it is also hard to trace the transaction trail.

Because of the anonymity offered by privacy coins, fraudulent activities such as tax evasion and money laundering are common with Monero and Zcash.

How the IRS Hopes to End CyberCrime

Based on the Request for Information (RFI) posted by the IRS Criminal Investigation program, private contractors working for them have developed software used to detect suspicious online transactions.

Illicit activities reported by various law enforcement agencies in the past will be gathered and analyzed in detail to prevent future cases of phishing and fraudulent behavior.

US law enforcers are also looking to come up with more innovative technological strategies to trace privacy coins, layer 2 off-chain protocol networks, and side chains.

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US Intelligence Reveals Extent of North Korea’s “Hidden Cobra” Crypto-Dependent Cyber Crimes

In an effort to combat North Korea’s rampant crypto-dependent and money generating cyber crime campaign, the United States government published a list outlining the sanctioned state’s attacks dating back to 2017—as well as guidance on countermeasures.

The new warning released on April 15 by the US Treasury, Homeland Security, and the FBI advocated that it was imperative to stop North Korea’s illicit cyber activities and subsequent money stream to obstruct the authoritarian regime’s plan to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Per the release, “ The DPRK’s malicious cyber activities threaten the United States and the broader international community and, in particular, pose a significant threat to the integrity and stability of the international financial system. Under the pressure of robust U.S. and UN sanctions, the DPRK has increasingly relied on illicit activities – including cybercrime – to generate revenue for its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.”

The countermeasures guidance includes the implementation of a tough anti-money-laundering framework for digital currencies and the expulsion of North Korean IT workers, as well as stern advice to follow best cyber practices, and communicate with law enforcement.

Hidden Cobra

The US government is calling the North Korean cyber crime campaign by the code name “Hidden Cobra” and believes the campaign began as far back as May 2017 with the WannaCry and Malware attacks which infiltrated hundreds of thousands of computers, holding data hostage until a ransom in Bitcoin was paid. These hacks have been attributed to the DPRK by governments around the world, not only the United States.

The US agencies cite evidence that Hidden Cobra’s attackers have grown more sophisticated and diverse in their cyber campaigns with the majority of their plots highly dependent on stealing digital currency.

As stated by the US agencies, “The DPRK also uses cyber capabilities to steal from financial institutions and has demonstrated a pattern of disruptive and harmful cyber activity that is wholly inconsistent,”—with expectations of international cyber conduct.

North Korea has rebutted the allegations of stealing almost $2 billion dollars in fiat and crypto, by calling the accusations “a sort of a nasty game.”

The Case of Virgil Griffiths

US officials have adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards anyone even appearing to assist the North Korean crypto operations.

Virgil Griffith, the Ethereum research scientist was arrested in Los Angeles last December and charged for allegedly aiding in the circumvention of US Sanctions that have been placed on the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea.

According to the official complaint, Griffith had explicitly asked and been denied permission to travel to North Korea in order to give the presentation on blockchain technology. Specifically, the charges cited that Griffith had been aiding the development of a crypto exchange between North Korea and South Korea and was fully aware this would violate US and UN sanctions against the DPRK.

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World Economic Forum Warns Leaders to Brace for Long-Lasting Global Recession as Cybercrimes Surge

The World Economic Forum (WEF) suggested that leaders around the world need to do more to ensure a quicker and more sustainable recovery for the global economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amongst the 350 top risk professionals in the world surveyed, these risk managers expect a prolonged global recession, as a number of areas of concern were identified in the report compiled by the Forum’s Global Risks Advisory Board, Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc, and Zurich Insurance Group.

Half of the respondents expressed expected bankruptcies and industry consolidation, and failure of industries to recover, and a disruption of supply chains. The World Economic Forum published a report on the importance of blockchain in supply chain disruption amid the pandemic.

Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum said, “The crisis has devastated lives and livelihoods. It has triggered an economic crisis with far-reaching implications and revealed the inadequacies of the past.”

With the onset of the new infectious disease, cybercrimes and the breakdown of IT infrastructure and networks have taken a swerve for the worst. The Forum concluded that around 500 million people would be at risk of falling into poverty, an anticipated fall of 13 to 32 percent in global trade, and a 1 percent of increase in unemployment, which could result in a 2 percent increase in chronic illness.

Levels of unemployment continue to grow, especially in the younger cohort, a lack of progress in reducing carbon emissions are also possible side effects of the pandemic as well. The US federal authorities found that a group of international fraudsters may have been attacking the US unemployment systems, funneling millions of dollars in payments that were intended to support those who were affected economically by COVID-19.

The Forum’s take on blockchain and digitization to address supply chain disruption

The World Economic Forum recently published a new blockchain deployment toolkit aimed to help governments, major institutions, and companies of any size to be able to maximize the benefits of integrating blockchain technology in the supply chain sector. The Forum also highlighted the importance of blockchain for addressing the disruption of supply chain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The toolkit was tested by businesses for a period of time, to make sure it is user-friendly and can have an impact on companies in the future. Nadia Hewett, Blockchain Lead at the World Economic Forum said, “Not only are we now providing the toolkit and all the lessons in subsequent COVID blockchain activities to our partners, governments and private sector; while we developed the toolkit and other ongoing projects, we brought in partners to help co-create and design it with a user-centric approach in mind.”

The World Economic Forum believes with the accelerated release of the blockchain deployment toolkit will also help with the economic recovery post-pandemic. Hewett says that many countries will rely on digitization for its economic recovery, as digitization for trade could act as a way to reduce trade barriers, given all the geopolitical issues.

Feds suspect fraudsters attacked US unemployment systems costing millions

With the number of infections in the US growing at an appalling rate, so far, 1.5 million American citizens have been infected, with over 90,000 related deaths. The unemployment crisis in the country has surpassed the rate since the Great Depression, as the official US unemployment rate is at its highest in recorded history, at an alarming 14.7 percent.

The New York Times obtained a memo from the US Secret Service, indicating that the fraud scheme was coming from a “well-organized Nigerian fraud ring,” and could result in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in the American financial system.

These fraudsters may have leveraged detailed information about US citizens, including social security numbers, which have been obtained from previous cyber attacks. The attackers have also filed claims on behalf of people who have not been laid off, according to officials.

Risks of UK supply chains ahead of Brexit

Ahead of Brexit, the British are facing issues in disrupted supply chains due to the coronavirus pandemic. With just seven months to go before Brexit takes place, 82 percent of small to medium-sized manufacturers say that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their supply chains.

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Feds Suspect US Unemployment Systems Attacked by Fraudsters, Leading to Losses in the Hundreds of Millions of Dollars

According to federal authorities in the US, a group of international cyber criminals has been reportedly attacking the US unemployment systems, funneling millions of dollars in payments that were intended to support the detrimental effects the coronavirus pandemic had on the economy.

Roy Dotson, a special agent specializing in financial fraud at the Secret Service said, “We are actively running down every lead we are getting.” He added that the fraud was aided by a number of people who were used as intermediaries for money laundering after a connection was made with the attackers online. He further warned of quick-money remote work arrangements and other suspicious financial deals online.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has published advisories on March 16 and April 3 to warn financial institutions to stay alert for malicious, fraudulent transactions, and AML operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was due to the increase in these types of cases, as bad actors have leveraged the pandemic for theft and money laundering activities.

With the immutable and transparent features of blockchain, it is believed that the technology could potentially eliminate bad actors who are conducting such cyber crimes. Blockchain’s tracking ability could also mean transparency in the relief methods, ensuring that the funds reach their intended recipients.

Financial crimes and digital currencies

Kenneth Blanco, Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), also added that the network has observed that cybercriminals predominantly launder their proceeds and purchase the tools to conduct malicious activities via virtual currency. He said, “During this time of crisis where our people are more at risk or more vulnerable than ever, we, all of us, have a duty and responsibility to use our abilities, tools, and talents to protect others and ensure the stability of this ecosystem that we are creating and it depends on trust.”

White House budget urges legislation to return secret service to treasury due to crypto crime surge

‘A Budget for America’s Future’ has been published by the White House, which indicates the budget of the United States government of the fiscal year 2021. The document also states the information on the President’s priorities.

President Trump’s ‘New Foundation for American Greatness’ aimed to balance the books by 2027, by pushing for an annual economic growth rate of three percent. The new budget proposes $4.829 trillion for the fiscal year of 2021, with annual spending expected to top $6 trillion by 2028.

In the Department of the Treasury section, the document highlights that the department manages the US government finances, and promotes conditions that enable stable economic growth while protecting the integrity of the financial system and combating financial crimes and terrorist financing.

Cryptocurrencies, and other technological advancements, projected as a threat to the international financial marketplace, the department believes has contributed to more groups of criminal organizations and more links between financial and electronic crimes combined.

Visa recently filed a digital currency patent in the US

According to a publication by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Visa applied for a new patent application to create a blockchain-based digital currency on a centralized computer.

The patent was originally filed in November 2019, and was described as “Digital Fiat Currency.” The US dollar was mentioned as one of the fiat currencies to be used potentially, although the patent could also apply to other central bank digital currencies, including the pound, yen, and the euro.

The central entity computer described in the patent will receive requests with details, including the serial number and the denomination of physical currency. Blockchain will be recording the creation of the digital currency and the removal of the physical currency from circulation in a fiat currency system.

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Ransomware Gang Evil Corp Group Strikes Again with New Ransomware WastedLocker

A ransomware gang called Evil Corp Group is back in action, after having been in retirement for an undetermined period of time. The malware hacker group strikes again by developing a ransom software dubbed WastedLocker.

Who is behind Evil Corp?

Evil Corp Group is a Russian-based cybercriminal group that is led by Maksim Yakubets. The group rose to popularity in 2007 and was infamously known for targeting big US firms.

They demand million-dollar payments as ransom, and they are reputed for having stolen at least $100 million from banks and financial institutions in at least 40 countries. According to global cybersecurity expert NCC group:

“Evil Corp are selective in terms of the infrastructure they target when deploying their ransomware. Typically, they hit file servers, database services, virtual machines and cloud environments.”

The cybercriminal group rose to popularity after they developed the Dridex and Bitpaymer ransomware. From the get-go, Evil Corp Group has changed their virtual identity numerous times in order to stay undetected.

New production: WastedLocker

The newly developed malware WastedLocker aims to encrypt the files of the infected host. Though it does not have anything in common with its precedent Bitpaymer—WastedLocker has been labeled a threat by cybersecurity officials due to its connection to the notorious Evil Group.

In fact, alleged leader Yakubets and his partner-in-crime Igor Turashev have been charged in a 10-count indictment for monetary fraud, conspiracy, computer hacking, and wire fraud.

Bitcoin demanding ransomware WannaCryFake

WannaCryFake, much like its counterpart WastedLocker, is a Bitcoin (BTC) demanding ransomware. The malware operates when a computer system is infected with the bug, then data is encrypted, held hostage, and a ransom in Bitcoin is demanded in exchange for the decryption of the files. Finally, only after the ransom has been paid, the attackers will release the stolen data back to the victim.

Solutions to ransomware

Though it may be daunting, there are solutions brought up by cybersecurity firms to track down hacker gangs and put an end to their cybercriminal activities.

Emisoft, a cybersecurity firm, aims at tracking down malicious phishing and ransomware attacks. They released a free decryption tool aimed at putting an end to illegal Bitcoin mining activities.

Bitcoins Used in Facebook Scheme to Scam Suicidal Victims Into Buying Drugs

A cybercriminal ring operation has been inciting Facebook users to employ Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, in exchange for drugs. This investigative report from the UK depicts the strategic techniques used to track down the unknown villains operating behind this devious scheme.

Drugs in Exchange for Bitcoins and Crypto

Officials who posed as a Facebook user communicated with the drug dealer by asking about the quality of the product. Facebook scammers claimed that their pills were the best because they had the most competitive prices and guaranteed fast delivery.

They then also disclosed that the pills were also effective for people who were suicidal. If one wanted to end one’s life once and for all, the illicit drugs that they sold would do the trick.

Other than selling poison for Bitcoin, these traders also gave instructions to clients on how to use the pills in an effective manner to end one’s life. They did not, at any moment, attempt to dissuade online clients from committing suicide. No online helpline or psychological resources were provided to the victims.

A common recurring theme with Bitcoins, Litecoins, Ethereum, Zcash, and other cryptocurrencies seems to be the use of these cryptos for illegal activities. Though cryptocurrencies are relatively safe, secure, and ensure faster delivery time than traditional institutional payouts, the guaranteed transparency of them can sometimes be problematic.

Facebook Scams, Ads—What Else is New?

Facebook scams are just the tip of the iceberg. For a long while, Facebook has been collecting data from users’ browsing history and Friends List for personal research purposes. The invasiveness of these methods has long been debated and talked of over and over again.

While there may not be a way to prevent the app from engaging in data collection completely, there are ways that one can curb it. Facebook is seen as being increasingly intrusive, as the app constantly prompts a user to allow access to one’s location, microphone, camera, contacts, and much more.

Depending on the phone, one can limit Facebook’s data collection by going into one’s phone settings and personalizing what one allows Facebook to have access to. Another method of restricting Facebook data collection is by going on the application directly and personalizing one’s settings.

Pandemic Politics—Facebook CEO Marc Zuckerberg Speaks Up

Since the US Presidential election is taking place in November, and POTUS (President of the United States) Trump is actively working on his Presidential Campaign, Facebook has taken a lot of heat in regards to the political advertising it has been engaging in.

Users have complained about the volume of propaganda through the form of political ads that they saw on their feeds.

On Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke up and announced that the social network app would be changing tactics. From here on forward, US citizens would be allowed to opt-out of seeing ads on their social feed.

Zuckerberg says:

“Everyone wants to see politicians held accountable for what they say — and I know many people want us to moderate and remove more of their content. For those of you who’ve already made up your minds and just want the election to be over, we hear you — so we’re also introducing the ability to turn off seeing political ads. We’ll still remind you to vote.”

COVID19—Can Bitcoins Revolutionize the Economy, Post-Coronavirus?

As the world is experiencing a global recession, the majority of the crypto community believes that Bitcoin could benefit a global financial crisis.

Governments around the world have been scurrying to produce medical gear, which is scarce in some parts of the world. Genson Glier, the BlockToken Co-founder, said, “Most individuals will have some loss of faith in their government, especially given the crisis. This loss and lack of trust are just one of the reasons why BTC has been able to establish itself. I think people will see it as an additional asset class for wealth distribution, now more so than ever.”

Bitcoin and Ethereum win sentiment scores

A random sample population was surveyed to see whether people generally had a positive or negative outlook on cryptocurrencies. Eleven cryptocurrencies were used in the experiment. The results showed that Bitcoin and Ethereum generated the most positive outlooks, while Binance coin received the highest sentiment rate.

Microsoft Takes Down COVID-19 Cyber Criminals to Eliminate "Business Email Compromise" Attacks

Scammers have been taking advantage of the confusion caused by COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent worldwide economic crisis in order to retrieve sensitive information and phish personal data from Microsoft users.

It was reported by Corporate Vice President of Microsoft, Tom Burt, that Microsoft users from at least 62 countries around the world have been defrauded by cyber criminals phishing for sensitive data. The online hackers operated by sending COVID-19 labeled files to a victim’s email account, which were purposely marketed in a way that incited users to click on the malware. Following that, malicious web applications were then able to access the victims’ Microsoft Office 365 account.

This is known as a form of Business Email Compromise (BEC) attack. It has become increasingly sophisticated and complex to prevent, as new software is constantly developing, and scammers have upgraded to more creative phishing schemes.

Luckily, following a court order issued by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Microsoft has finally been able to seize control of the key domains in the cyber criminals’ infrastructure, in an effort of putting an end to cyberattacks targeting their multinational tech company.

FBI Internet Crime Reports

With cybercrime on the rise, the FBI’s 2019 Internet Crime Report indicated that BEC attacks figured among the most costly complaints, resulting in over $1.7 billion of financial damages. FBI also reported that from 2016-2019, businesses lost approximately $26 billion dollars due to fraudulent emails.

According to Safepost, the use of decentralized technology in emails have yet to be fully utilized and a blockchain-based solution would solve the majority of problems that traditional email providers faced. A decentralized email solution would entail that messages would be stored in shared ledgers. In other words, no single authority would be able to dictate how your data was used.

Monero Used in Cybercrime

With phishing attacks being increasingly common in the crypto world, virtual currencies, such as Zcash and Monero (XMR), are more and more favoured by scammers because of their privacy features. XMR stands at the top of the list for the most private cryptocurrencies on the market. Because it operates on blockchain technology and its network is obfuscated, Monero is a popular choice employed by cybercriminals in carrying out illicit cyber scams.

Chinese Police Seize $14M in Crypto from Scammers Posing as Huobi Officials

The Chinese police arrested a crypto scammer gang in Wenzhou that reportedly swindled $14.3M in cryptocurrencies.

The gang, which was made up of Chinese graduate classmates, operated by reaching out to victims through Telegram group chats, one of which was called “Huobi Global Moving Brick Arbitrage HT Chinese Group Community.” By posing as the global investment group and with the help of devised marketing schemes, the fraudsters advocated the use of “smart contract” blockchain technology in order to invest their “clients'” money.

They claimed that the blockchain smart contract could generate Huobi Tokens (HT) – the official coin of the cryptocurrency exchange Huobi. The criminals told victims that this investment would enable the latter to earn an 8% return via arbitrage.

The fraudsters convinced individuals to transfer Ethereum coins to a designated web address, after which the client would be compensated with 60 HT. They posed as investors and they told interested participants that all they needed to do was send their crypto coins to a fake Huobi wallet address, after which the victims would receive the promised HT tokens in return. Instead, it was reported that individuals falling for the scam only received a fake HT link in return. One victim came forward and filed a complaint to the local police. He told them:

“Simply put, you send one unit of Ether to a designated account, and they send you 60 HT. If you sell it, the profit you gain is around 8%.”

After investigating the criminal case for more than a month, Chinese police officers finally managed to locate the scammers. During their raid, officers arrested 10 suspects residing in a luxury villa and a commercial house in the Cangshan District of Fuzhou City. The police also seized real estate property, two luxury cars — a Ferrari and a McLaren — estimated to respectively be of $430,000 USD and $570,000 USD in value.

Bitcoin and Ethereum win sentiment scores

With cryptocurrencies on the rise, hackers and fraudsters have been quick to use this to their advantage. Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoins, and Zcash appear to be popular choices used in fraudulent activities. Though cryptocurrencies are relatively safe and secure, the guaranteed transparency of them can sometimes be problematic.

A random sample population surveying whether people generally had a positive or negative outlook on cryptocurrencies found that Bitcoin and Ethereum generated the most positive outlooks, while Binance coin received the highest sentiment rate. Eleven cryptocurrencies were used in the experiment.

US Government Creates Cyber Fraud Task Force to Put an End to Crypto Crime

The US Secret Service is hoping to put an end to the increasing money-laundering cases that have erupted with the rise of COVID-19, by creating a special division, dubbed the Cyber Fraud Task Force (CFTF).

COVID-19 and its New Wave of Cybercrime

With COVID-19 disrupting the economy worldwide, cybercriminals have been capitalizing on the chaos created by the pandemic in order to conduct their fraudulent activities. The number of ongoing illicit activities — from finance-related thefts to private data being sold illegally on the dark web — has certainly increased, with technology being increasingly pervasive.

US Secret Service Presents CFTF

The US Secret Service decided to merge two of its departments in March 2020, in order to better address traditional and cyber-related financial crimes. It combined the Electronic Crimes Task Forces (ECTFs) and Financial Crimes Task Forces (FCTFs) to create a single division, CFTF. The US Secret Service is hoping that in the future, they can expand this part of their security network and implement this system across the globe, in its many offices — 160 to be exact — located in various parts of the world.

Cyber Fraud Investigators vs. Traditional Fraud Investigators

The CFTF will combine the expertise of both ECTFs and FCTFs to put an end to cyber-enabled financial theft, which ranges from Business Email Compromises (BECs) scams to data breaches. In order to be effective at tracking illicit online activities and to put an end to it, CFTF investigators need to be able to analyze a computer network, trace an IP address and coordinate with internet service providers to detect suspicious activity. This is a very different task than that required of traditional fraud investigators, who have to identify counterfeit fiat money, track fraudulent wire transfers, and work in collaboration with traditional financial institutions if they wished to terminate money fraud activities conducted the traditional way.

Crypto is New and Exciting, But Use With Caution

Earlier this year, the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has urged social media and messaging companies that are using cryptocurrencies to be extremely vigilant regarding illegal transactions. Deputy Director of FinCEN Jamal El-Hindi spoke up regarding this subject matter, weighing the challenges faced by the financial industry when it came to transparency:

“Our Anti-Money Laundering (AML) principles generally revolve around promoting appropriate transparency of transactions for the benefit of both the financial institutions processing them and FinCEN’s law enforcement stakeholders. But the complexity of the transactions and relationships in your space present a challenge to transparency […] we have to recognize that the culture of any highly competitive industry may discourage sharing customer information for the purpose of anti-money laundering or other financial crime prevention.”

As online transactions are on the rise and more common due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, government officials are resorting to more innovative strategies to improve online regulation pertaining to cybercrime.

Cardano Addresses Fake ADA Giveaway Claims on YouTube

Cardano CEO Charles Hoskinson has once again come forward to address the issue of cryptocurrency scams targeting his ADA empire and has been quick to refute any associations phishers made with the Cardano Foundation.

Phishing for Money

Recently, there have been cases where ads run by scammers on YouTube promoted fake ADA giveaways. A way cyber fraudsters operated was to reproduce the speeches of important crypto figures such as Vitalik Buterin, Charles Hoskinson, and Changpeng Zhao (respectively the co-creator of Ethereum, the CEO founder of Cardano, and the CEO of Binance Exchange). In the video, there was also an airdrop or a cashback link that was promoted. Scammers often would then link their own wallet address in order to collect the funds.

On July 12, Hoskinson tweeted that it has come to his attention that a scam floating around YouTube was using his conference keynote to promote a giveaway. He emphasized that it was indeed a scam, and to whoever came across it to report the fraudulent link to YouTube. Speaking on behalf of Cardano Foundation, he also added that his firm will take legal action if needed be, against the cyber phishers. The upload has since been removed by YouTube regulators.

How to Not Fall Prey to Money Launderers

In an official blog post by Cardano Foundation, the blockchain company addressed the issue of online scamming and fraudulent individuals who associated themselves with Cardano. This dilemma seems to be on the rise recently. The crypto company explained to their audience how to track fraudulent claims, and added that they would never ask someone to send one own’s funds to them. They also advised ADA investors to be careful:

“We strongly urge you not to send your ADA to any third-party entities which claim to have partnerships with Cardano or officials from the entities within the Cardano ecosystem.”

Cardano Foundation on the Rise

It appears as though Cardano has been hit with a lot of scams since their recent success with their altcoin ADA. The cryptocurrency skyrocketed this July, surprising crypto market experts. It is the highest price level the ADA has seen since its fluctuation in 2019. Currently, ADA is experiencing a 200% year-to-date gain, making it the biggest news on crypto markets. Cardano’s ADA cryptocurrency has been one of the top-performing tokens this year and has become the sixth-largest crypto according to CoinMarketCap.