By Solomon Odunayo
Cryptocurrencies forensic experts from Xrplorer, have recently revealed how phishing sites use tricky XRP giveaways to steal from XRP holders.
The experts warned XRP holders about the giveaway scam on 15th June, believing that the dubious strategy emerged in January 2020 and still remains highly potent.
According to the report, hackers use phishing sites to steal the secret keys of XRP holders, under the guise of Ripple’s XRP giveaway. This is done through memo messages containing minimal XRP amounts, targeted at the holders of the digital token.
The Fake memo reads:
“Starting February 1, 2020, Ripple is releasing 3 Billion XRP to incentivize network users. Get 25% more XRP added to your account balance in just minutes.”
Inside the memo, the hackers provided a link to a website that impersonates Ripple’s Insight blog, bearing the message of fake grand giveaway allegedly promoted by the cross-border payment firm.
It Looks Legitimate but It’s Fake, Beware!
The fact that the scammers are using “homoglyph” domains, which use characters that can be substituted for another, such as using “rípple.com” in place of the original domain “ripple.com”, making it hard for unsuspecting XRP holders to fall victim of the scam.
The websites also applied the replicas of the templates used to design Ripple’s Insight blog. . This makes the fake giveaways look legitimate.
Also, Xrplorer stated that a new version of phishing attacks, whereby, people interested in XRP are targeted with spam emails emerged in May 2020,
The Amount Stolen So Far
According to the report, the hackers have so far stolen over 2,100,000 XRP worth $399,000 at the time of filing this report.
Also, they have reportedly managed to launder 1,980,000 XRP worth $376,200, via swap services such as CoinSwitch and ChangeNOW. So, it’s now left to XRP users to jealously protect their hard-earned money from desperate scammers.