Key Takeaways:
Over the last few months, a major hacking incident involving fake demo accounts on the ByBit exchange has affected over 250 users of the social media platform X in the UK. The culprit managed to get away with $650,000 in various cryptocurrencies by enticing people into the trading scam and offering them easy money.
Hacker Steals Upto $40,000 Each From Victims By Luring Them To A Fake Crypto Trading Scheme
Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT has revealed details of a fake ByBit demo trader, who is seemingly stealing up to $3,000 from each person. The on-chain security expert analyzed 16 exchange deposit addresses linked to hackers involved in the scam, and they have received about $650,000 from more than 250 victims in less than a year.
The perpetrator, who goes by the name “Ape 31”, exploited victims by leading them to beleive that they were trading through legitimate demo trading accouns on the ByBit exchange, but all along it was a scheme to sell fraudulent copy trading insights. Ape 31 has misled numerous individuals using counterfeit wallet screenshots, suspicious over-the-counter deals, and proxy investing scams.
The scammer was posting fake profit and loss statements from a ByBit demo account and running a news page on X to funnel unsuspecting victims into paying a fee of between $250 and $500 for trading services and additional funds for him to “manage” the accounts before blocking them upon receiving payment.
ZachXBT noted in his related X posts that Ape 31 has extorted up to $40,000 from individual investors, and extracted additional funds by employing blackmail and scare tactics following the initial deposits from victims.
In one case, a victim sent $500 to Ape 31 for copy trading. Once the payment was made, he asked for an extra $20,000 to trade on their behalf, claiming that he has “0 liq price”. The hacker then gives the victim an API key to watch the fake trades and shared fake PNL screenshots to make them beleive that they were making massive profits. He then threatens them into sending another $20,000 by claiming he cannot get the profits until more money is transferred.
Another victim was lured into the scam by claiming that the service was risk free and that he could withdraw his balance of between $10,000 and $100,000 within a few days. He was ghosted by Ape 31 after transfering $3,000 as the first trade.
“Ape 31” Frequently Changes Deposit Addresses, Making It Difficult For Authorities To Identify Him
To complicate things, Ape 31 frequently alters the deposit addresses, making it difficult to ascertain the full extent of the entire operation. According to the sleuth, the value of the stolen crypto may be much higher since the scammer has constantly been trying to avoid detection.
Ape 31 also performed fraudulent over the counter crypto trade. He enticed one potential victim into joining a video call by pretending that they needed to finalize a legitimate business deal. However, this particular call was recorded and made public by ZachXBT in hopes of identifying the real person behind the con. A few astute victims managed get an analysis of a TradingView account that indicated Ape 31 was using a UK SIM card to make calls, suggesting that he is indeed a British resident.
ByBit Demo Trading Account Scam Part Of A Larger Operation. Crypto Platforms Have Lost Over $400 Million To Hacks In Q3 2024
ZachXBT criticized ByBit for making its demo trading pages similar in look and feel to the normal page, allowing scammers to exploit it. He noted that the scam has been going on for a while and the crypto exchange was doing nothing about it.
The blockchain expert alerted his followers that the ByBit demo account scam is also linked to other crypto kacks across the industry. There has been a significant rise in crypto scams this year, with recent data from Immunefi revealing that victims have lost over $400 million to various hacks in the third quarter of 2024 alone.
Recently, the BingX exchange suffered a massive breach that resulted in over $43 million worth of cryptocurrencies being stolen. The hacker seemingly converted the loot into Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Coin (BNB) before moving them out, making it difficult to recover the assets. The BingX hack stands as one of the largest faced by the industry this year.
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