The rise of crypto-related crime has compelled global regulators to take decisive actions to safeguard investors from exploitative activities. On Friday, the UK-based law enforcement unit National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) suspended 43 domains used in orchestrating fraudulent activities.
According to the report, the NFIB discovered multiple fake emails purporting to work under prominent crypto exchanges such as Blockchain.com. The discovery of the fake emails from Blockchain.com forced the NFIB to intensify its investigation to obtain substantial evidence.
UK Authority Clamping Down Fake Websites
In a subsequent statement, the acting commissioner of the City of London Police, Pete O’Doherty, stated that the suspicious domains were legally registered. The commissioner noted that “actionfraud.info” and “department-fraud.com” were the domains the authority blocked.
He stated that immediately after the NFIB identified the fake domains, the regulators ordered the websites to be blocked. In addition to blocking the suspicious websites, the NFIB implemented preventive measures to protect investors.
The law enforcers urged the fraud victims to report the matter through the NFIB official website. The report demonstrated that the NFIB commenced the investigation of fraudulent schemes last year.
In December, the NFIB suspended around 300,000 fake websites linked to fraudulent schemes. The NFIB report noted that with the advancement in technology criminals devised creative approaches to lure customers into their dubious schemes.
Law enforcers observed that criminals implemented phishing scams to rob customers of their hard-earned money. The hackers claimed the customers won rewards such as Tupperware sets to entice them to their fraudulent schemes.
Rise of Crypto Crime
As customers moan over the loss of substantial amounts, the NFIB has shifted its focus on analyzing fraud-related crimes in the finance and crypto sectors. The NFIB’s ongoing investigations mirror the regulatory approach taken by global regulators to apprehend criminals looming in the crypto industry.
A recent report dated January 20 demonstrated that phishing scams are effective method criminals use to steal from the crypto community. Also, the report illustrated that the hackers launched a phishing link tied to the famous hardware wallet manufacturer Trezor.
The phishing incident on the Trezor platform exposed around 66,000 users to the loss of confidential information. Shortly after the matter was reported, 41 customers confirmed that after clicking the phishing link, they were directed to provide confidential information, including wallet details.
Factors Contributing to Phishing Attacks
Days after the Trezor incident, the crypto community reported a phishing attack linked to prominent Web3 companies. The report demonstrated that the hackers launched around 11,499 phishing links in January.
A review of the phishing link the hackers purported to work with Manta Network, AltLayer, OpenSea, Optimism, zkSync, and SatoshiVM. Furthermore, the crypto community regretted that the hackers used fake token airdrops to defraud investors.
The damages caused by the phishing attacks forced the regulators to take immediate action to address the concern. On January 24, law enforcer noted the hackers compromised the email marketing company MailerLite.
A report from the probing team indicated that the MailerLite employee fell into the hacker trap and clicked the phishing link. The MailerLite employee followed the instructions on the fake link and completed the Google sign-in page. Shortly after the employee completed the registration process, the hackers accessed Web3 accounts to steal customers sensitive data.
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