Scam
Aussie billionaire sues Facebook over crypto scams with AG’s consent
Australian billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest is taking Facebook to court over scammy cryptocurrency ads that he alleges used his name to defraud victims. The Fortescue Metals chairman is accusing Facebook of breaching Australia’s money-laundering laws, claiming that it “knowingly profits from this cycle of illegal ads” that it failed to remove. An initial court hearing in the Western Australian Magistrates court is scheduled for Mar. 28, with a committal hearing expected later in 2022. Forrest is bringing forward the charges under Part 10 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code, with the consent of the Attorney-General Michaelia Cash. According to the filings, one Australian victim lost $952,000 AUD after falling for the scam. The court documents stated that the scam “defrauded victims out of ...
Crypto YouTubers fall victim to hacking and scamming attempt
Hackers attacked a number of popular crypto YouTuber accounts at some point during the afternoon of Jan. 23. The accounts posted unauthorized videos with text directing viewers to send money to the hacker’s wallet. Accounts who appear to have been targeted by the attack include: ‘BitBoy Crypto’, ‘Altcoin Buzz’, ‘Box Mining’, ‘Floyd Mayweather’, ‘Ivan on Tech’, and ‘The Moon’ among others. BREAKING: Dozens of Crypto YouTubers have had their accounts hijacked by hackers promoting a fake crypto giveaway scam. Hacked accounts include:@IvanOnTech@boxmining@aantonop@themooncarl@Bitboy_Crypto@mmcrypto@Altcoinbuzzio@FloydMayweather@crypto_banter@CoinMarketCap pic.twitter.com/ykXkZUh9cO — Mr. Whale (@CryptoWhale) January 23, 2022 The Binance Smart Chain wallet address that was listed on the f...
CoinMarketCap allegedly lists 3 fake SHIB contract addresses, Twitter firestorm ensues
A bit Twitter drama ensued on Thursday, continuing well into Friday afternoon, when developers behind popular meme token Shiba Inu (SHIB) issued a statement alleging that CoinMarketCap had listed three fake SHIB contract addresses belonging to the Binance Smart Chain (BNB), Solana (SOL), and Terra Luna (LUNA) blockchains. The staff at Shiba Inu claimed that the addresses were unsafe and that CoinMarketCap had refused to correct the alleged mistake. At the time of publication, the contract addresses are still viewable on CoinMarketCap. Official Statement regarding the recent actions by @CoinMarketCap . pic.twitter.com/DXP2wZRhYC — Shib (@Shibtoken) January 13, 2022 Earlier in the day, CoinMarketCap issued a response claiming that the contract addresses listed on the page are wormhole addres...
What is a honeypot crypto scam and how to spot it?
What is a crypto honeypot and why is it used? Smart contracts programs across a decentralized network of nodes can be executed on modern blockchains like Ethereum. Smart contracts are becoming more popular and valuable, making them a more appealing target for attackers. Several smart contracts have been targeted by hackers in recent years. However, a new trend appears to be gaining traction; namely, attackers are no longer looking for susceptible contracts but are adopting a more proactive strategy. Instead, they aim to trick their victims into falling into traps by sending out contracts that appear to be vulnerable but contain hidden traps. Honeypots are a term used to describe this unique sort of contract. But, what is a honeypot crypto trap? Honeypots are smart contracts that appear to ...
Hong Kong NFT project Monkey Kingdom loses $1.3M in phishing hack, launches compensation fund
On Tuesday, Solana nonfungible token (NFT) project Monkey Kingdom, which has received notable backing from American DJ Steve Aoki, announced via Twitter that hackers made off with $1.3 million of the community’s crypto funds through a security breach on Discord. According to its developers, the hack first occurred with the breach of Grape, a popular solution for verifying users on Solana. Hackers then used the exploit to take over an administrative account, which posted a phishing link in the Monkey Kingdom Discord’s announcement channel. Users who followed the link connected their wallets expecting they would receive an NFT but instead were drained of their SOL tokens by the scammer. Announcement on the discord hack pic.twitter.com/1r7svjlZcB — Monkey Kingdom (@MonkeyKin...
Olympia Music Festival Scammed by Fake Jonathan Richman
Up until Friday, August 27th, Modern Lovers singer Jonathan Richman was scheduled to headline LoveOly Summer Fest in Olympia, Washington — or so the organizers thought. As it turns out, the Olympia Film Society fell victim to “an elaborate booking scam” and neither Richman nor his publicist knew anything about the concert until they were contacted for an interview. As reported by The Olympian, the scam was uncovered when Mark “Markly” Morrison, host of the Low Profile podcast, contacted Richman’s publicist Debbie Gulyas to request an interview with the veteran singer-songwriter. Both Gulyas and Richman were “confused,” as they had no knowledge about his festival appearance until receiving the email. The Film Society, which books concerts for the weekly festival, had slated Richma...
BUA increases price of cement
BUA Cement Plc has increased the ex-factory price of its cement product by N200 per bag. The cement manufacturer, it was reliably gathered, unveiled its new price increase from N2,800 to N3,000 per bag over the weekend. The price increase by BUA is contrary to what he has repeatedly asserted that his company does not have any justification to increase the price of cement as it is currently making enough returns. It would be recalled that BUA Cement, in various statements issued between April 24 and June 18 this year, had refuted any claims of increase in the ex-factory price of its cement products by N300 per bag, stating that, “the company had no plans to increase prices of its cement now or in the near future.” According to a statement issued on April 24, 2021, the company stated that, “...
Official: NDLEA not recruiting
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has alerted the public on the activities of scammers taking advantage of the employment screening exercise conducted by the agency. Mr Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy of the agency in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja said that fraudster are demanding for payment from the shortlisted candidates. Newsmen reports that NDLEA had conducted screening for shortlisted candidates of narcotic officers and narcotic assistants. The agency had on May 12 and June 5, notified the public and job seekers to be wary of messages from persons claiming to be acting on behalf of NDLEA and demanding payments for employment. Babafemi said that the the NDLEA is investigating three telephone numbers and bank account details linked to members of the job sca...
EFCC unveils Abdulrasheed Bawa’s authentic Facebook account
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Sunday finally revealed the Facebook account of its chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa. EFCC’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, disclosed Mr Bawa’s only Facebook account as, @AbdulRasheedBawa. The commission had since Mr Bawa’s appointment late February pointed out fake accounts being operated on Facebook and Twitter in his name, and warned members of the public against having any dealing with them. On different occasions, the commission vowed to unearth those behind the fake accounts and make them to face the wrath of the law for their act of “identity theft.” Sunday’s announcement of Mr Bawa’s authentic Facebook account by the EFCC appeared to have stemmed from the commission’s frustrations in stopping the proliferation of more fake social me...
EFCC hands over recovered N67.5 million to victim in Enugu
YouTube The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has restituted the sum of N67,523,000 to one Mr. Emmanuel Onyekachukwu Onah, a trader based in Onitsha, Anambra State. EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said Onah’s ordeal started sometime in 2019 when he transferred the sum of N75,760,540.00 to the duo of Tega Esinone and Obiajulu Umeagukwu for onward transmission to his business partner, Crecedor Industrial Co. Ltd in Hong Kong. The suspects converted the money to their own use. After efforts to recover his money from the suspects failed, Onah petitioned the EFCC. The commission in the course of investigating the scam, initiated a non-conviction based forfeiture process which culminated in a December 1, 2020 ruling by Justice I.N Buba of the Federal High Court, Enugu, orderin...
NSCDC warns applicants over fake recruitment message
Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has warned applicants over fake recruitment examination messages on social media scheduled to take place at undisclosed venues. In a statement by its spokesman, DCC Olusola Odumosu, the Corps said the information is untrue, misleading and fraudulent by scammers in their quest to swindle innocent job seekers. “The Corps wishes to distant itself from this fraudulent and malicious act of some unscrupulous elements in their attempt to hoodwink unsuspecting Nigerians especially the youths into thinking that NSCDC has commenced it’s recruitment process thereby demanding for unsolicited assistance and kickbacks to influence the selection process. “It is instructive to state unequivocally that the maliciously circulated information about NSCDC Recru...
House minority caucus flays $1.5 billion approval for rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery
The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives Tuesday described the approval of $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery as a huge scam and a ploy by unscrupulous elements to siphon public funds. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had recently at its virtual meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the refinery. But, the caucus in a statement by its Leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, while rejecting the amount, said the figure is outrageous and heavily inflated, demanding an immediate review of the cost. The lawmakers noted that while they are in support of any genuine effort to bridge energy deficit in Nigeria, such should not be used as a ploy by corrupt individuals to fleece the nation. The caucus called...
