More than $ 440,000 in stolen crypto funds is secured by New York officials in an ongoing fraud investigation that focused on the locals.
Authorities of the office of the public prosecutor in Brooklyn, the office of the New York State Attorney General and the New York State Department of Financial Services jointly disturbed A multi-layered cryptocurrency-swam operation that had primarily aimed at Russian-speaking residents in Brooklyn and in the United States.
As part of the enforcement campaign, $ 140,000 in digital assets was seized, while an extra $ 300,000 was frozen in crypto accounts linked to the scheme.
The scammers operated a malicious advertising network on social media platforms that promoted dubious investment schemes to focus on unsuspecting crypto investors.
The investigation into the scheme, known as “Black Hat” advertising, began in October 2024 when NYDFS a fake website, whalestrade.com, falsely displays a Bitlicense certification. The site was reduced to a broader network of fraudulent platforms that were used to mislead victims to send cryptocurrency under the guise of investment options with a high return.
Many of the platforms used Russian language advertisements and went for well -known personalities to get credibility.
After victims had clicked on the advertisements, scammers changed the communication to encrypted messages such as WhatsApp and Telegram, creating the illusion of legitimate investment interactions.
Initial investments were met with manufactured account statements with a bloated return, to motivate victims to send even more money. When users tried to withdraw their money, they were blocked or asked to pay fake collection costs and taxes. Ultimately, scammers completely cut the communication and disappear.
More than 300 victims have been identified, with only Brooklyn only good for more than $ 1 million in estimated losses.
Officials reported that Meta, Facebook’s parent company, concludes more than 700 Facebook accounts that are linked to the scam after they were warned about the investigation. Authorities have also dismantled a network of more than 100 fraudulent domains and 17 registrar accounts that are used to lure unsuspecting investors.
To circumvent the advertisements of Facebook, the scammers hired advertisers in Vietnam and paid with stolen crypto to walk misleading advertisements. Authorities discovered that the scammers convert Bitcoin into the Vietnamese currency to finance the campaign, which creates a judicial order to freeze $ 300,000 in related accounts.
This case is only an example in a series of scams that have armed digital advertisements to steal from unsuspecting crypto investors.
Similar tactics were previously seen in 2024 when fake versions of platforms such as the whale market and the withdrawal of cash appeared as sponsored links on Google, causing users to break their wallet with phishing sites.
In some cases, even trusted services such as nearly identical domain names were used, which drains user funds by malignant scripts. Despite the efforts of companies such as Google and Meta to curb such abuse, fraudulent advertisements continue to emerge.
