Cyber-criminals are exploiting Amazon’s image to push a fraudulent scheme dubbed ‘Amazon to establish its own digital token,’ forcing victims to give up their credentials, according to cyber-security researchers.
The researchers from cyber-security firm Akamai said that they have been able to track continuous cyberattack campaigns that took advantage of the crypto fever, including fraudsters who introduced a variety of phishing schemes built on fake rumours, such as ‘Amazon to create its own digital token.’ A closer look at victims who visited the fake token landing pages showed that 98 percent of the victims were mobile users, with 56 percent using Android and 42 percent using iPhone devices.
The report said, “Looking into the geographic breakdown for campaign victims shows that 29 percent were located within North America, 35 percent in South America, and 27 percent in Asia.”
Akamai reported Amazon on its findings. After engaging the targets, victims were sent to a well-designed and functional phoney website, where they paid for the bogus cryptocurrency. The targets were obliged to pay for the fake tokens using cryptocurrency — in this case, Bitcoin – as part of the fraud.
The ultimate goal of the scam was to lead victims into believing the fake cryptocurrency was real and pay for it with their own cryptocurrency (bitcoin).
The researchers said, “To drive victim engagement and trust, attackers created a fully functional website that required registration, account confirmation using email, and a user account profile.”
Furthermore, the website used social engineering techniques such as displaying a fake progress bar showing that tokens were soon to sell out, putting pressure on the victim’s purchasing decision. According to Chainalysis, scammers will obtain around $14 billion in deposits in 2021.
