The Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) has announced that it will intensify its crackdown on financial crimes that infringe on people’s livelihood, such as ‘investment reading rooms,’ until June 30 this year. Investment reading room fraud is a crime that uses KakaoTalk open chat rooms to spread false investment information to lure victims into investing in stocks or coins and then stealing their investment money.

According to Noodle Capital, there have been frequent scams in investment leading rooms using KakaoTalk public chat rooms, so people should be cautious. The scam involves windbreakers disguising themselves as dozens of people through cannon accounts and multiple access programs, and they are connected to a fake home trading system (HTS) to cheat as if the recommended items are skyrocketing.

The investment reading room scams appear in various types, such as fake HTS, sales of unlisted stocks, sales of crypto assets (market manipulation), and internet loan scams under the name of compensation for losses. The most representative type of scam is the HTS scam, where individuals are asked to pay 50,000 won ($40) for a recent deposit of 100,000 won ($80), saying that a 50% profit has been made in a few days.

After a case of high profits with unlisted stocks is known, false information is provided to sell unlisted stocks or impersonation of an investment company employee to show fake official documents in the name of the Financial Services Commission or Financial Supervisory Service.

A new approach is also emerging where individuals are defrauded by approaching them in the name of ‘loss compensation’ and receiving personal information such as identification cards, saying that they will give crypto assets free of charge as compensation, and then receiving internet loans in the name of the victims.

An official from Noodle Capital advised people to be cautious when someone they do not know recommends investing with a guarantee of principal and high returns. They should always check with the financial authorities.

The KNPA has emphasized that they will be cracking down on these crimes, which infringe on people’s livelihoods, and have urged people to report any suspicious activities to the police. The public is advised to be cautious and vigilant against these types of fraud and to seek the help of the authorities if they have been a victim of investment reading room fraud.

#KNPA #Noodle #crypto2023 #scam #azcoinnews

This article was republished from azcoinnews.com

Last month saw significant financial losses due to cryptophishing attacks, with scammers estimating damages at $47 million. These attacks were largely executed through fake comments on social media platform X, appearing to originate from reputable accounts.

Phishing via Platform X Leads to Extensive Losses
According to the Scam Sniffer report, Platform X was the scene of phishing attacks in February, affecting over 57,000 individuals. Crypto scammers utilized fake accounts to spread fraudulent comments, resulting in financial losses exceeding $46.8 million. These comments often came from accounts pretending to be other individuals on Twitter.
The report further stated that the Ethereum mainnet was the primary target of the attacks, with 78% of stolen funds consisting of ERC-20 tokens, representing 86% of the total value of stolen assets. Attacks often relied on scams where users were convinced to sign off on dangerous transactions such as Permit, IncreaseAllowance, and Uniswap Permit2.
Increased Risk Due to Account Abstraction
Scam Sniffer also noted that an increasing number of wallet users started utilizing the account abstraction feature for better management of their tokens. This feature brings greater flexibility and compatibility with smart contracts to Ethereum wallet users.
Decrease in Losses Despite Higher Victim Count
Although February saw a higher number of phishing victims compared to January, there was a decrease in the total value of stolen funds. There was also a significant decrease in the number of victims who lost over $1 million.

Scammers often target social media of public figures, where they can respond to posts using fake accounts designed to appear genuine or even hack these accounts to post fraudulent links.
Attacks on Prominent Accounts and Rise in Approval Phishing
In February, the MicroStrategy company's X account was compromised, with thieves making off with cryptocurrencies worth approximately $440,000. Other notable entities such as Compound Finance, Rocket Pool, Blockchain Capital, and even Vitalik Buterin also reported attacks on their accounts on Platform X.
The recent increase in crypto scammer activities includes the so-called "approval phishing," a strategy aimed at convincing victims to authorize transactions, granting thieves access to their wallets and draining funds. A recent FBI report warns that millennials, in particular, are often targeted by these investment scams.
#cryptophishing #crypto #scam

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