The Growing Threat of Copycat Crypto Exchanges
In today's digital landscape, cryptocurrency is emerging as an influential part of finance, introducing new opportunities and challenges. The emergence of copycat crypto exchanges has posed a significant threat to investors within the Web3 community.
These scam exchanges are often conveyed to victims as part of "pig butchering" scams, where an attractive woman, posing as a successful crypto trader, promises high returns through her 'exclusive' trading strategy. These fraudulent platforms are impressively designed to mimic the appearance and functionality of reputable crypto exchanges, deceiving users into believing they are interacting with legitimate exchanges.
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong has recently highlighted this issue, by issuing warning about unlicensed online trading platforms that replicated MEXC, a well-known crypto exchange. https://www.sfc.hk/en/alert-list/3000
As per the notification, the list of fraudulent websites include https://www. mexczx[.]icu/, http://www. mexczx[.]cn/, http://www. mexcz[.]icu/, https[:]//www. mexczx[.]co/, http://www. mexc.zx[.]cn, https://mexcitrade[.]com, www.mexczz[.]icu, and http://www. mexczx[.]top .
Our diligent patrol team has flagged these sites to ensure that SafeSoul users are immediately alerted upon accessing these deceptive websites as shown in below images.
Additionally, SafeSoul has verified the authentic social media handles and website of MEXC, marking them as 'Verified'. The SafeSoul browser extension proves invaluable in distinguishing between scam and legitimate websites, offering peace of mind during cryptocurrency transactions.
Scammers have long been creating fake versions of popular crypto exchanges, including exchanges like Coinbase, Robinhood, and Coindcx. The impact of these scams can be devastating.
In one case, a scammer "Mingyi" lured the victim into investing in a copycat crypto exchange https://www.bitstampnd[.]info , different from the legitimate www.bitstamp.net. Upon withdrawal, she was told that her $300,000 investment required a $90,000 tax payment within three days, leading to the loss of all her savings.
In another case, another victim from California was misled by "Hao Yang" into buying cryptocurrency on Coinbase and transferring it to a fake "NYMEX" site, impersonating the New York Mercantile Exchange. After investing over $650,000, he couldn't withdraw his purported $10 million balance due to losing contact with the company.
Despite efforts by authorities, these sites often remain active long enough to cause significant financial damage to large number of victims. In response to this ongoing threat, the SafeSoul browser extension has been developed as a tool to help protect users. By marking known fraudulent websites, SafeSoul provides an immediate warning to users, helping to prevent potential scams.
SafeSoul patrols are actively watching for fraudulent activities, including suspicious airdrops, harmful websites, and hacked social media profiles. The browser extension provides immediate warnings to enhance user safety in the cryptocurrency domain. By marking genuine websites and social media accounts as 'Verified,' SafeSoul browser extension ensures users can easily recognize and avoid scams, thus securing their cryptocurrency assets.
SafeSoul also offers rewards to patrol members for flagging scams.
https://twitter.com/SafeSoulETH/status/1754425213989581278
For more information, visit https://safesoul.club/ and take a crucial step towards safeguarding your digital assets against scams.
Author -
Ashutosh Barot [ ashutoshbarot.com, @ashu_barot ]
Ashutosh Barot is a renowned Cyber Security Engineer with significant contributions to protecting over 100 million people's data. He is working with a Big4 consulting firm since June 2017. His expertise in identifying security vulnerabilities has been recognized by major entities like Google, Twitter, NASA and the US Department of Defense.