The COVID-19 pandemic has provided scammers with measureless opportunities. While the entire world is still trying to get used to the new normal, these attackers are making it extremely difficult.
What’s going on?
Cryptocurrency scammers have come under the limelight recently as it was found that they made off with at least $145,000 in the span of a week. You may ask how was this possible? They hacked verified Twitter accounts and promoted fake giveaway scams. However, this is not the first instance. Last month, the same sort of cryptocurrency scam made $580,000 in a week.
Implications
No matter how many warnings are given out, people keep falling victims to these scams. Verified Twitter accounts are being relentlessly hacked and the fake giveaway scams seem to come from Tesla, Elon Musk, Gemini Exchange, and Social Capital. The hundreds of thousands of followers of these accounts, consequently, get duped as a result.
What else?
- Several State Bank of India customers were targeted by a phishing scam recently. The users were sent requests to redeem their credit points worth thousands.
- Another cryptocurrency scam, dubbed Doge giveaway, is making the rounds. The giveaway is being hosted on bogus pages with fake promises of doubling the volume of Doge coins.
- A Pennsylvania iPhone user was reportedly duped of $1,500 when her call to Apple support was intercepted by a hacker.
The bottom line
With increasing cases of online scams, it has become ever important for users to turn the knob up on their cyber scam awareness. These scams have increasingly started looking very real and thus, it is elementary for anyone to fall victim to them. Follow cybersecurity hygiene and stay safe.
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