Crypto scammers seem to be on the rise now that the digital asset sector is seeing growth in several regions around the world. Yi He, the co-founder of Binance, called on Elon Musk over the weekend to take action to ensure that the spread of crypto-related fake news on Xu is dealt with proactively. The CEO of Binance recently found herself involved in an impersonation scam, in which her identity was used to promote a fake crypto token on Xu.
In a post published on Xu, He said that she has not issued any crypto tokens called MemeCoins. She clearly told her followers as well as members of the Binance crypto circle not to take the bait and invest in this scam token.
Addressing Musk, the head of X, he wrote: “Many people were scammed by this hacker link and lost a significant amount of money today. Is there any way to fix this problem, Elon Musk?” The screenshots shared by He also show her crypto key as well as her name being spoofed.
Musk, normally very active on X, has so far not published any response to He’s question.
I have not issued new MEMEcoins. Clicking on the link will steal your money. Many people have been scammed by this hacker link and have lost a significant amount of money today. Is there a way to solve this problem?
@elonmusk pic.twitter.com/fCiweFweBa— Yi He (@heyibinance) June 14, 2024
In March of this year, Scam Sniffer said in its Crypto Phishing Report that around 57,000 victims lost approximately $47 million (roughly Rs. 392 crore) to crypto phishing scams – with the highest percentage of scams being facilitated by fraudsters running on X.
:rotating_light: (1/6) ScamSniffer’s Phishing Report for February
In February, approximately 57,000 victims lost approximately $47 million to crypto phishing scams.
Compared to January, the number of victims who lost more than a million dollars decreased by 75%. pic.twitter.com/UgZk0K91lH— Fraud sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) March 10, 2024
In February of this year, the X account of the company MicroStrategy was hacked, through which the airdrop of the MSTR crypto token scam was promoted. Since MicroStrategy is a pro-Bitcoin business intelligence company, several people believed the token drop was legitimate and ended up getting involved with malicious links. At the time, market analysts like Scam Sniffer and ZachXBT estimated that this scam managed to steal around $440,000 (roughly Rs. 3.6 crore).
Blockchain Capital’s X account was also hacked last year to promote another scam token BCAP. In fact, He himself warned about the increasing number of crypto scams on X in January of this year.
When Musk bought X from its founder Jack Dorsey in April 2022, he said among his top priorities was ridding the social networking platform of bots and scammers manipulating the crypto market. Despite the changes he introduced to the platform; crypto scammers are still abusing the platform to connect with potential victims.
