A new Elon-Musk themed cryptocurrency phishing scam is promising free bitcoin to users; however, it turns out scammers are harvesting personal data.
The new “Elon Musk Mutual Aid Fund” giveaway has started over the past few weeks, according to BleepingComputer. The phishing scam is of low-effort and includes non-descriptive email subject lines and messages.
The email includes a HTML attachment named “Get Free Bitcoin – [id].htm’ or “Elon Musk Club – [id].htm.” The attachment contains JavaScript code to redirect browsers to https://msto.me/elonmusk/ webpage, where the site will pretend to be an “Elon Musk – Mutual Aid Fund” that promises to send 0.001 to 0.055 bitcoins (between $43-$2,395 USD) to those who participate.
Related: Top 3 Ransomware Operators by Income
The site will bring users to another webpage called “Bitcoin Donate” where the user is then prompted to enter their bitcoin address, name, and an optional photo to receive the free bitcoin. The site then re-directs users through a series of pages that looks like others are donating .001 bitcoin to the users’ account.
After the account has accrued 0.055 of fake bitcoins donations (or just over $2k USD), the last step is for the user to donate 0.001 bitcoin to another user to full receive the funds. Scammers will take the “donation” but do not send anything in return.
According to BleepingComputer, two bitcoin addresses have been associated with these scams:
- 32hU2JrkmMmgmka2rUuKXc3yd3S9WKxWnp received 73 transactions of 0.05734407 bitcoins, worth approximately $2,731.98.
- 3EbUB9wdQCxJwW5neH3xnTGjuoCA8THU5D received 54 transactions of 04663469, worth approximately $2,033.93.
It’s quite shocking that over 100 users have fallen victim to this Elon-Musk-themed cryptocurrency giveaway scam. The reasons that people fall for phishing scams are numerous; however, everyone needs to recognize a crypto giveaway site is a scam — especially those who pretend to be one of the richest people in the world. What will hackers think of next?
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!
Leave a Reply