With the billions of dollars held by cryptocurrency exchanges, it’s little surprise to find them being actively targeted by scammers. The FBI has just warned that scammers are “impersonating cryptocurrency exchange employees to steal funds.”
As scams go, this is fairly simple. An unexpected call or text from a supposed exchange staffer warns the consumer that there’s an issue with the account, suggesting that a theft or fraud might be underway. Then login details are either requested or a login link provided. Either way, those credentials are then misused.
While no details have been released as regards a specific campaign, this is just the latest socially engineered campaign that plays a frightening numbers game—call many, fool few. I’d hope that most of you reading this wouldn’t ever disclose login details to any such call. Remember, banks and exchanges will never request security credentials. You’d always be asked to login the usual way.
With that in mind, if you do receive a call from an exchange—or any other financial institution, always assume the caller is a fraudster unless they’re able to identify themselves beyond’s any reasonable doubt. You can always insist on calling back using usual contact numbers.
The FBI’s advice if you do receive such a call is straightforward:
- If you receive a call or message indicating any kind of account problem or compromise, do not respond, even if it appears official and indicates you must act immediately.
- Hang up. Call the cryptocurrency exchange’s official phone number to verify if there is a problem. Do not use any phone number the caller provides.
- Do not go to any websites or click on links the caller sends you. Navigate to the official cryptocurrency exchange website separately.
- If anyone asks for your account log-in information at any point, do not provide it.
- Avoid clicking links, downloading files, or opening attachments in unsolicited messages.
- Be cautious of services that claim they can recover any lost cryptocurrency funds.
If you do believe you have been defrauded, then contact the exchange immediately and you can also report the suspected crime to the FBI’s IC3 at www.ic3.gov.
It’s only three months since the FBI’s last crypto warning, which was a much more sophisticated token impersonation scam. This, by contrast, is ridiculously simple.
Whether it’s crypto or simple banking, call scams are surging in the US. In its “State of the Call” report published earlier this year, Hiya reported that “threats to the security and trustworthiness of voice calls also remain as prevalent as ever–and have only grown worse over the past year.”
The voice company’s stats make stark reading: “28% of all 46.75 billion unknown calls processed by Hiya in 2023 were flagged as suspected spam and fraud. And consumers believe the problem is getting worse, with nearly 60% reporting that phone spam has increased in the last 12 months, and some even report there is no communication channel they trust.”
Most such scam calls are not specifically targeted and will simply play the laws of averages, citing the names of a well-known institution to find targets randomly. It’s no different to the scourge of emails and texts doing the same.
In any case, the FBI has issued a warning and so exchange users should be even more vigilant than usual over the coming days and weeks.
