Queenslanders have misplaced practically $40 million to funding scams together with cryptocurrency swindles this yr — the best loss ever recorded within the state.
Australian Competitors and Shopper Fee (ACCC) figures from January 1 to August 28, present Queenslanders misplaced $38.6 million in funding scams.
On the similar time final yr, Queenslanders had been defrauded of simply $19.8 million.
Nationally, $263 million has been misplaced this yr, virtually double the losses in 2021.
One of many state’s prime monetary crime cops says the new breed of crypto-scammers are more and more utilizing refined methods to lure their victims in, together with posing as celebrities and at the same time as Queensland cops on social media.
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Australian Federal Police (AFP) have additionally known as cryptocurrency an “rising risk” with one report each eight minutes final monetary yr, a 13 per cent enhance on the earlier yr.
Cryptocurrency funding scams are the primary driver of the rise and a file variety of Queenslanders are paying the worth.
Listed below are their tales.
‘Groomed’ and ‘conned’
Sunshine Coast girl Ella (not her actual title) misplaced her life financial savings by means of a refined and complicated scheme.
Over a five-week interval, she mentioned she was “groomed” and “conned” to make three deposits of $34,000 to what she believed to be a professional web-trading platform.
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“My financial institution … did not provide you with any warning indicators that might have made me suppose: ‘It is a bit dodgy’,” she mentioned.
After depositing the funds, the cash was transformed into cryptocurrency accessible by way of a “pockets” handle.
She mentioned the net portfolio appeared to correlate with the inventory alternate giving the phantasm that it was professional.
“The factor is, none of it’s actual,” Ella mentioned.
Cryptocurrency scammers are usually based mostly abroad making them tougher to trace.(ABC Information: Mary Lloyd)
“The minute it leaves [the web trading platform] to that pockets handle … it goes into all these accounts everywhere in the world and it is not possible to really comply with up on any of those accounts from this one pockets handle.”
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After Ella’s third and remaining deposit she tried to drag her cash out as a result of alarm bells rang and she or he had “nothing else within the tank”.
She was advised by scammers to remortgage her home or flip to credit score.
Just a few months later, Ella acquired a name out of the blue from a “very clean” man she’d by no means heard of who claimed to have her cash.
“Then got here the announcement that to ensure that me to get my a reimbursement, I must put in $5,000 USD,” she mentioned.
“I simply hung up however he continued to name me for 3 days afterwards clearly considering that by some means I might come to my senses and drop 5 grand.”
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To this point, Ella has by no means acquired the cash.
“You undergo humiliation, embarrassment, you get into a extremely darkish place since you really feel like how might you be so silly,” she mentioned.
“You do not wish to inform your folks … you would not even know the place to begin.”
$100k misplaced to crypto rip-off
One other 54-year-old Sunshine Coast man just lately misplaced $100,000 in a cryptocurrency rip-off, in accordance with the Queensland Police Service.
He used a professional buying and selling platform however was tricked into investing by means of a faux firm that promised to arrange his account in alternate for a larger return.
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The person was advised he wouldn’t be capable to entry the funds for 12 months, which Queensland Police mentioned was a pink flag.
“If you happen to’re working your personal account, you’ll be able to withdraw at any time,” Sunshine Coast Senior Sergeant Craig Mansfield mentioned.
“His funds have ended up in a pockets someplace on the earth that holds about $3 billion in the meanwhile … who owns it? Who has entry to it? No-one will ever know.”
Senior Sergeant Craig Mansfield says on-line scammers are very troublesome to trace down.(ABC Sunshine Coast: Jessica Ross)
Lured in on social media
Michael Stefanon, from south-west Queensland, invested in cryptocurrency after seeing a “buddy” endorse it on social media — however his buddy had been hacked.
Initially, Mr Stefanon transferred $100 “to check the waters” and when it appeared as if he had made a superb return, he turned suspicious.
“I wished to take that cash out and put it again into my checking account and from there, this individual was saying: ‘Oh, you have to add extra money to get entry to your returns’,” he mentioned.
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“She saved saying: ‘Belief me, belief me, it will work’ so I put in a little bit bit extra.”
Believing messages that seemed to be “skilled and real”, he transferred cash by way of an internet platform that he trusted.
Over a few days, the 35-year-old misplaced about $700 and is grateful it wasn’t extra.
“I felt a bit foolish and need I by no means received ,” Mr Stefanon mentioned.
“I would not belief anybody who contacts you on social media. I simply do not suppose crypto is one of the simplest ways of investing your cash.”
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Do not belief influencers who get wealthy fast
Queensland Police Service Monetary Crime and Cyber Crime Group Performing Superintendent Michael Newman mentioned crypto-scammers go to nice lengths on social media to lure of their victims together with stealing the identities of celebrities and even cops.
“Quite a lot of the adverts that you just truly see on there, the place there’s the likes of Matt Damon investing in cryptocurrency, plenty of occasions their pictures are literally getting used with out their information,” Performing Superintendent Newman mentioned.
“We truly did see on-line there was a picture of a police officer from far north Queensland and the advert learn: ‘Have a look at what this officer did, have a look at how they invested their cash and they’re a multimillionaire’.
Crypto-scammers are turning to social media to lure in victims by means of well-liked on-line profiles.(Pixabay.com)
“We did observe down the officer concerned and that officer had at no level ever given approval for his or her pictures for use and neither had they really invested in cryptocurrency the way in which it was truly being alleged.”
Performing Superintendent Newman mentioned cyber crime investigators have been proactively making an attempt to get these kinds of ads faraway from social media.
“Truly investigating and prosecuting the individual [who posts them] clearly turns into much more troublesome, however we will begin the prevention disruption work by truly having the clearly faux adverts taken down,” he mentioned.
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Lack of regulation creates ‘wild west’
Dennis Desmond, a former FBI agent and cyber intelligence professional at the College of the Sunshine Coast, shouldn’t be shocked extra Queenslanders are getting caught out.
He mentioned as value of residing pressures elevated, individuals tended to search for fast returns.
“Folks [who] play the lottery, they will exit they usually’ll attempt to discover methods to earn further funding,” Dr Desmond mentioned.
“They suppose that cryptocurrency affords this chance for them.”
Dennis Desmond says prison teams are engaged in cryptocurrency scams due to the low funding on their half.(Provided: College of the Sunshine Coast)
He mentioned an absence of regulation and understanding meant “well-organised” prison teams have been getting concerned.
“It is nonetheless the wild west on the market,” he mentioned.
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Report suspicious exercise early
In an effort to sort out cybercrime nationally, the Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre (JPC3) was launched earlier this yr as a hub for state and federal legislation enforcement and stakeholders, together with AusTrac and the banking trade.
“We actually see cybercrime as a risk that’s rising in scale and quantity and actually inflicting vital impression to the general public,” Cybercrime Operations Commander Chris Goldsmid mentioned.
“We do have the capability, the instruments and experience within the AFP to trace and hint cryptocurrency.
“Cryptocurrency transactions will not be nameless.”
Cybercrime Operations Commander Chris Goldsmid says early reporting of a suspected rip-off is important.(ABC Information: Greg Nelson)
Suspicious exercise and scams may be reported to your financial institution, ReportCyber and Scamwatch.
Commander Goldsmid urged individuals to be vigilant no matter age or geographic location and to report suspicious exercise early.
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“Folks can really feel a little bit bit embarrassed if they have been the sufferer of a rip-off or a cyber crime and that embarrassment can lead individuals to take a while earlier than they suppose to name their financial institution or report it to police,” he mentioned.
“Earlier reporting is basically pivotal if somebody’s gained entry to your account or has efficiently stolen cash from you.”
It is a well-known fact that the value of cryptocurrencies does not remain unchanged and keeps on changing greatly. For example, even the Shiba Inu (SHIB) was able to make the same way from oblivion to great fame. However, according to top market experts, this new rising cryptocurrency is the Next Shiba Inu (SHIB).
Shiba Inu (SHIB): The Historical Price Rally
The coin was launched in July 2020 and became quite a hit with meme coin lovers where Shiba Inu’s price went from $0.00000001 to $0.00008845 by October 2021. This exceptional increase of over 88,000,000% brought a lot of media attention to SHIB which now contains the list of successful cryptocurrencies. Only in the first year of trading SHIB, it achieved an impressive growth of 54,505%, something most of the cryptos have not done.
Like Shiba Inu who had the best year in 2021 and then all the news concerning why it collapsed, it too was relevant through cries and bullish periods of the crypto market. Even as of 2024, the SHIB price average stood at $0.0000184 average, the yearly closing price standing at $0.0000150, the price going 3 times above this of $0.0000453. Investors have lost interest and concentration in their quest for what they call ‘the next Shiba Inu whose kind of returns would be in the foreseeable future making upside-down changes in the market.
Rexas Finance (RXS): The Next Shiba Inu (SHIB)
The meme factors and low entry barrier of Shiba Inu generated adequate accessibility to the wider public. Likewise, Rexas Finance envisages the possibility of serving also individuals as well as organizations through its design which is easy and simple. No matter whether it is real estate, artwork, or a burst of ideas, Rexas Finance has all of the necessary features for these assets to be incorporated into the blockchain. This concern about usability is an advantage to RXS as it will target a wide range of users including some who may be inexperienced with the concept of digital assets management.
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Early Adoption and Token Presale Success
The early presale period activities are one of the necessary conditions for every cryptocurrency focusing on achieving similar results as that of SHIB to consider. For the case of Rexas Finance (RXS), the presale phase has been enthusiastic. Of the 425 million RXS tokens set aside for presale, the first stage alone recorded 15 million tokens sold at $0.03 apiece with a total revenue of $450,000.
The second stage also continued to be successful where another 20 million tokens were sold at $0.04 raising a total of $1.25 million. The sharp sell-out indicates that there is tremendous interest in the ERP module and a sizable number of the participants believe in the prospects of the project. Phase two skims through still capturing the presale demand at a $0.05 stimulating token completion.
Both swarms of people stand out and rush to grab a portion of RXS with a fear of missing out on the next big coin in the cryptocurrency industry. As those who adopt SHIB in its early stages benefit greatly, there are similar expectations for investors in RXS to look forward to after some time when the platform comes to maturity.
RXS: The Shiba Inu of Asset Tokenization?
What interests most investors is whether Rexas Finance will offer anything close to the extraordinary returns brought by SHIB. It is not beyond the realm of possibility to forecast the future of any cryptocurrency with absolute accuracy but RXS has several clues that it is set to a similar soar.
This is becoming true with RXS similar to SHIB, where its early adopters are increasing. It is interesting to note that the project is currently running a reward event and is willing to hand over $1 million to 20 random users. Having gotten more than 70,000 participants and the contest has 131 days to go, the buzz is increasing towards the platform.
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Conclusion
The hunt for the next Shiba Inu is on with the changing phases of the crypto market. Although there are no guarantees, Rexas Finance (RXS) has many of the ingredients that made SHIB successful: early adoption, community support, and a disruptive platform. With the growth of asset tokenization and RXS growing fast, get in on this new token as it very well could be the next cryptocurrency to take off and provide the same kind of returns as what the initial SHIB investors had.
For more information about Rexas Finance (RXS) visit the links below:
This is a sponsored article. Opinions expressed are solely those of the sponsor and readers should conduct their own due diligence before taking any action based on information presented in this article.
Sep 28, 2024Ravie LakshmananCryptocurrency / Mobile Security
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a malicious Android app on the Google Play Store that enabled the threat actors behind it to steal approximately $70,000 in cryptocurrency from victims over a period of nearly five months.
The dodgy app, identified by Check Point, masqueraded as the legitimate WalletConnect open-source protocol to trick unsuspecting users into downloading it.
“Fake reviews and consistent branding helped the app achieve over 10,000 downloads by ranking high in search results,” the cybersecurity company said in an analysis, adding it’s the first time a cryptocurrency drainer has exclusively targeted mobile device users.
Over 150 users are estimated to have fallen victim to the scam, although it’s believed that not all users who downloaded the app were impacted by the cryptocurrency drainer.
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The campaign involved distributing a deceptive app that went by several names such as “Mestox Calculator,” “WalletConnect – DeFi & NFTs,” and “WalletConnect – Airdrop Wallet” (co.median.android.rxqnqb).
While the app is no longer available for download from the official app marketplace, data from SensorTower shows that it was popular in Nigeria, Portugal, and Ukraine, and linked to a developer named UNS LIS.
The developer has also been associated with another Android app called “Uniswap DeFI” (com.lis.uniswapconverter) that remained active on the Play Store for about a month between May and June 2023. It’s currently not known if the app had any malicious functionality.
However, both apps can be downloaded from third-party app store sources, once again highlighting the risks posed by downloading APK files from other marketplaces.
Once installed, the fake WallConnect app is designed to redirect users to a bogus website based on their IP address and User-Agent string, and if so, redirect them a second time to another site that mimics Web3Inbox.
Users who don’t meet the required criteria, including those who visit the URL from a desktop web browser, are taken to a legitimate website to evade detection, effectively allowing the threat actors to bypass the app review process in the Play Store.
Besides taking steps to prevent analysis and debugging, the core component of the malware is a cryptocurrency drainer known as MS Drainer, which prompts users to connect their wallet and sign several transactions to verify their wallet.
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The information entered by the victim in each step is transmitted to a command-and-control server (cakeserver[.]online) that, in turn, sends back a response containing instructions to trigger malicious transactions on the device and transfer the funds to a wallet address belonging to the attackers.
“Similar to the theft of native cryptocurrency, the malicious app first tricks the user into signing a transaction in their wallet,” Check Point researchers said.
“Through this transaction, the victim grants permission for the attacker’s address 0xf721d710e7C27323CC0AeE847bA01147b0fb8dBF (the ‘Address’ field in the configuration) to transfer the maximum amount of the specified asset (if allowed by its smart contract).”
In the next step, the tokens from the victim’s wallet are transferred to a different wallet (0xfac247a19Cc49dbA87130336d3fd8dc8b6b944e1) controlled by the attackers.
This also means that if the victim does not revoke the permission to withdraw tokens from their wallet, the attackers can keep withdrawing the digital assets as soon as they appear without requiring any further action.
Check Point said it also identified another malicious app exhibiting similar features “Walletconnect | Web3Inbox” (co.median.android.kaebpq) that was previously available on Google Play Store in February 2024. It attracted more than 5,000 downloads.
“This incident highlights the growing sophistication of cybercriminal tactics, particularly in the realm of decentralized finance, where users often rely on third-party tools and protocols to manage their digital assets,” the company noted.
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“The malicious app did not rely on traditional attack vectors like permissions or keylogging. Instead, it used smart contracts and deep links to silently drain assets once users were tricked into using the app.”
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The cryptocurrency prices on Saturday ignited substantial investor optimism across the globe. Bitcoin (BTC) price gained to cross the $66K level today, while Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and XRP mirrored an upward trajectory. Simultaneously, Pepe Coin (PEPE) led the broader market gains, soaring nearly 20%.
Meanwhile, the global crypto market cap jumped 2.43% over the past day to $2.33 trillion. However, the total market volume witnessed an 8.26% decline in value to $78.21 billion today. Here’s a brief collection of some of the top cryptocurrencies by market cap and their price run on September 28.
BTC price topped the $66K level today, whereas ETH neared $2,700. Simultaneously, SOL and XRP prices gained 1-3% in the past 24 hours. Whereas, PEPE, NOT, and FLOKI emerged among the day’s top gainers. Let’s take a closer look at the crypto prices today.
Bitcoin Price Today
BTC price gained 1.5% at the time of reporting and is currently trading at $66,093. The coin’s intraday low and high were recorded as $65,107.12 and $66,255.53, respectively. Today’s rising price action falls in line with the broader market trend. Also, it’s worth mentioning that spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $494.45 million worth of inflows as of September 27, aligning with the pumping price action. However, Bitcoin’s dominance from yesterday slipped 0.20% to 56.13%. Besides, the flagship crypto’s market cap rested at $1.31 trillion today.
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Ethereum Price Today
ETH price chart illustrated a nearly 2% increase in value to reach $2,691 today. The coin’s intraday low and high were recorded as $2,637.98 and $2,728.07, respectively. Notably, even spot Ethereum ETFs registered $58.65 million worth of inflows as of September 27, per Soso Value data. Ethereum’s market cap rested at $323.92 billion today. Whale Alert data for the past day indicated increased whale activity, adding to the intrigue surrounding the asset’s price movements.
Solana Price Today
The crypto SOL witnessed a 2% jump in price today and is currently trading at $158. The coin’s 24-hour low and peak were recorded as $155.68 and $160.98, respectively. Solana’s market cap rested at $74.38 billion today. A recent CoinGape Media report reveals that the coin’s price gained against the backdrop of bullish on-chain data for SOL.
XRP Price Today
Simultaneously, XRP price witnessed a 1% increase in value to reach $0.5904 today. The coin’s intraday low and high were recorded as $0.5853 and $0.597, respectively. XRP’s market cap rested at $33.38 billion today.
Meme Coins Performances Today
On the other hand, Dogecoin (DOGE) price gained nearly 6% in the past 24 hours to reach $0.1259. Similarly, Shiba Inu (SHIB) price soared roughly 10% in the past 24 hours to reach $0.00002097. Meanwhile, PEPE and FLOKI surfed along the day’s top gainers.
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Top Cryptocurrency Gainers Prices Today
Pepe Coin
PEPE price surged by a whopping 20% in the past 24 hours and is currently trading at $0.00001135. The coin’s 24-hour low and high were $0.000009646 and $0.0000115, respectively.
Notcoin
NOT price mirrored a bullish sentiment, gaining nearly 16% to $0.00988 today. The crypto’s intraday low and high were $0.008649 and $0.01063, respectively.
FLOKI
FLOKI price noted a 10% uptick in value to reach $0.0001709 today. The coin’s 24-hour low and high were $0.0001571 and $0.0001763, respectively.
Top Cryptocurrency Losers Prices Today
Popcat
POPCAT price slipped over 5% to rest at $0.9436 today. Its 24-hour low and high were $0.9169 and $1.08, respectively.
eCash
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XEC price waned nearly 4% over the past day to reach $0.00003823. The coin’s intraday low and high were $0.00003779 and $0.00003941, respectively.
Sei
SEI price noted a 3% decrease in value to reach $0.4566 today. The coin’s intraday low and high were $0.4545 and $0.4796, respectively.
Besides, the hourly time frame charts sparked further speculations over the cryptocurrency prices today. BTC waned 0.04%, while ETH gained 0.02%, igniting uncertain investor sentiments across the broader market.
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Coingape Staff
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CoinGape comprises an experienced team of native content writers and editors working round the clock to cover news globally and present news as a fact rather than an opinion. CoinGape writers and reporters contributed to this article.
Disclaimer: The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.
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