Cryptocurrency crime in Netherlands.

[Anonylz]

People will always commit crime irrespective of whether being in crypto or not,  $21 million is no small money to defraud people of, why not utilize that brain on something positive, if they can crea8a website for criminal activities why not turn it into something useful in blockchain that equally generate funds, I guess the mind of scammers work differently,
Anyways, good thing the authorities quickly step into action and was able to apprehend them, it would have been another dent on crypto and a bad experience for some people.

[Debonaire217]

I just figured out that even sites that has a symbol for SSL security or website with a padlock beside it isn't secured at all. Meaning to say that in order for us to be safe and avoid scam, it is not enough that we just rely on this, make sure that we got the right site through inspecting the link we are entering. Most of the time, we just click an auto fill site that mostly lead us to scam sites. I would advise that we should have a book mark of the legit site so that we can easily access it and the right link is provided.

Moreover, save the site's link in our desktop or mobile.

[sheenshane]

I impressed those authorities around the globe who never stop finding, arresting, and putting those criminals into jail like the Netherland police. Just like where criminals are also into technology it will not be easier to find and identify them yet policemen will never stop catching them and putting them all into jail, no matter how many criminals will be in jail there will still be new criminals that will come and cause another crime to the society.

It'll always be wise for us to make our own safety measures and precautionary actions before dealing with people and sites that we do not know. Self negligence is the best queue for criminals in identifying their next victim like in typosquatting either accidental or just curiosity may be the reason for us to become a victim.

[buwaytress]

27 million is a shitload of money, I still don't understand how grown people still don't use bookmarks and anyway check with 2FA to get shit secured. I got a kid who occasionally falls for typosquatting but he's got a really good excuse (doesn't and can't know better as he doesn't even type) but I thought with all the education and awareness people get, they still get tricked.

That said, Bitcoin's simply not ready for the masses when even basic internet use isn't.

[carlisle1]

Six people were arrested in the Netherlands and the UK over a $27 million "typosquatting" scam, which involved making a fake website to gain access to user Bitcoin wallets.

.

This only proves that Netherlands is Good in catching scammers (How i wish our country will do same because of tons of scamming happening here) imagine that 27million$ are a Lifetime investment of some Victims and maybe those are what they gather from their lifetime crypto investing.

I strongly condemn such illegal things on crypto market.away with their wrongdoing.

We are in one position in this point mate because these criminals must be all gone Damn.

I am happy at least here police have been able to identify them and brought them under justice. No criminals should be left alone in crypto space! Common people usually try to avoid dirty water.

And this will be an eye opener for those aspiring to be scammers and also those becoming a target .

 Typosquatting is the type of scamming where they hijack different websites or fake the URL so that they can have access to the accounts of the victim who input their bitcoin wallet in the website.

Indeed and this has been exposed in many threads in scam section i think.

If you're a mindful person, you will never try new websites that is related to crypto
.

Nope there are some new sites that is legit we have some tools now to check if the sites are scams or phishing sites just look for google.

You will know that the website is a fraud and looks suspicious if the website lacks a certain features and also the design is plain. If the volume of people is not that huge enough, there's a possibility that the website you're accessing for your bitcoin wallet might be fake. That's why you should look for more reviews and information about the website where you can access your bitcoin wallet.

this is what we need to learn before exploring internet specially if you are a crypto users because we are mostly the target nowadays.

[bitbollo]

These are very huge numbers since 4000 users (victims) lost around 6500$ each!
It's a bit surprising that some with such "good" amount (around 1 bitcoin...) have not any culture to avoid this type of frauds.
Plus we don't know what are these exchanges "spoofed" but the reputable ones, most of the times use 2FA or double passwords systems so probably there is also a lack of security and there was a security risk by joining/using them.

[Casdinyard]

27 million is a shitload of money, I still don't understand how grown people still don't use bookmarks and anyway check with 2FA to get shit secured. I got a kid who occasionally falls for typosquatting but he's got a really good excuse (doesn't and can't know better as he doesn't even type) but I thought with all the education and awareness people get, they still get tricked.

Bookmarking is really needed especially when you are visiting the same website over and over again like exchanges, online wallets and online banking, this is the main target for typosquatting. What I think of this is that, the domain providers should be accountable also for giving some people the altered domain of some famous websites, is this possible in any way?

That said, Bitcoin's simply not ready for the masses when even basic internet use isn't.

This speaks a lot. This is what I'm talking about with the mainstream adoption, we are dreaming even we're not ready for it.

[Yatsan]

These are very huge numbers since 4000 users (victims) lost around 6500$ each!
It's a bit surprising that some with such "good" amount (around 1 bitcoin...) have not any culture to avoid this type of frauds.
Plus we don't know what are these exchanges "spoofed" but the reputable ones, most of the times use 2FA or double passwords systems so probably there is also a lack of security and there was a security risk by joining/using them.

Yeah this is really a user fault since they are not checking any information before they enter their details to a website. This type of scam is the easiest way for people to lose money even local banks have this type of issue, our problem here is the cryptocurrency is decentralized so, once the scammers get your money yo have no other move! you are just going to accept that. People should really be careful in this type of scam. It's better to use a hardware wallet if you want to be safe on these kind of scam.

[Lucius]

I just figured out that even sites that has a symbol for SSL security or website with a padlock beside it isn't secured at all.

Better ever than never, but you should know that SSL is not something that signifies website legitimacy, it is a protocol which encrypt data you enter on SSL protected site and send such data to site owner. Encrypted data cannot be stolen and misused. You also need to know that SSL can be obtained completely free of charge today, so this is no problem for those who create fake sites.


Good work by UK, Dutch police, Europol and Eurojust, now I just hope they will be punished appropriately and more importantly, that some of the victims will be able to get their funds back. This is very good news for all those who have been victims of these scammers because now there is hope, which usually does not exist or is very small in such cases.

[boyptc]

It is actually like that, changing the URL name close to the original like Binance and other common cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets and other typical service that we use.

This really exists.

I guess some of you have seen those fake websites that's showing when you use google search and they are even sponsored.

Had that once, it was so freaking legit it even had it pass the details to the real server before requesting for 2FA.

I have read an article(AMA) and shared his experience as a hacker that even you have a 2FA, he will wait for you patiently just for him to gain access to your funds and transfer it quickly.

And that will happen if he has already the right login details of your exchange account and other wallet details.

[danherbias07]

So it is like "phishing website" but there is a slight difference.

It is actually like that, changing the URL name close to the original like Binance and other common cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets and other typical service that we use.

This really exists.

I guess some of you have seen those fake websites that's showing when you use google search and they are even sponsored.

Not just seen but one of the victims.
It was myetherwallet which was also the popular one which had been copied.
They just changed one of the "L" from the word wallet into an "I" in small letters.

That is the first time I had experienced a phishing technique, afterwards I bookmarked everything after looking at the legitimacy of the website.
This kind of events will not stop. With hackers and scammers having so much time spending in front of a computer, they will do evil works.

[Shasha80]

There are more and more crimes related to cryptocurrency nowadays, and what was distributed in the opening post of crime using the fake
websites method is not the first time. There have been repeated incidents like this, so our awareness needs to be increased. Always be careful
when accessing website, pay close attention to the website address to be addressed. Is the correct website address that we are heading to,
if it is different, leave it immediately that websites.

[peter0425]

If this kind of action from the operatives will be same for the whole world?i think we will gather Investors again in this market and the Bull may come earlier.

Because the very reason why people are afraid in investing here because of the knowledge that there are too many scamming happening here and it is hard to trust each online offering but if the government will run against them>then the changes will happen and we will be bloomed again.

[Exolix]

Six people were arrested in the Netherlands and the UK over a $27 million "typosquatting" scam, which involved making a fake website to gain access to user Bitcoin wallets.

5 man and 1 woman got arrested with warrant by the policeman at their homes Charlcombe, Lower Weston, and Staverton (UK), and Amsterdam and Rotterdam (Netherlands). They are really proffesional on accessing others account, there are many affected at least 4,000 victims in 12 countries and it still growing.

“The investigation relates to typosquatting, where a well-known online cryptocurrency exchange was ‘spoofed’ – or recreated to imitate the genuine site – to gain access to victims’ Bitcoin wallets, stealing their funds and login details.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/portswigger.net/daily-swig/amp/six-arrested-in-connection-with-27m-typosquatting-scam
Good thing is that, they had already caught those six people because if that thing does not happen, the number of being affected by the scam will grow continuously. That is how expert hackers and scammers are.

So always be careful when visiting and trying some unfamiliar websites, always do research about it and read some reviews to assure yourself that it is legit.

and these 27 million are impossible/very difficult to return to deceived users. Right?

It is a pity that there is no information about the scam site.

[UserU]

and these 27 million are impossible/very difficult to return to deceived users. Right?

It is a pity that there is no information about the scam site.

Even after Googling, several sources have never revealed the exchange. But based on the "popular" keyword, my educated guess would be Binance.

[imstillthebest]

i see . the term is new to me but its definition is familiar and sounds like it was simillar to phishing  were a site is copied to a geniune site but once you login your credentials are going to be stolen  .

 i know how this stuff work but i dont know about the others yet  . this is serious case and its verry trending now  , now that people are carelessly visiting any links they see and most of them will just login if they saw something that is rewarding  but at the end they are still the one that cry and complain 

[pakhitheboss]

Six people were arrested in the Netherlands and the UK over a $27 million "typosquatting" scam, which involved making a fake website to gain access to user Bitcoin wallets.

5 man and 1 woman got arrested with warrant by the policeman at their homes Charlcombe, Lower Weston, and Staverton (UK), and Amsterdam and Rotterdam (Netherlands). They are really proffesional on accessing others account, there are many affected at least 4,000 victims in 12 countries and it still growing.

“The investigation relates to typosquatting, where a well-known online cryptocurrency exchange was ‘spoofed’ – or recreated to imitate the genuine site – to gain access to victims’ Bitcoin wallets, stealing their funds and login details.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/portswigger.net/daily-swig/amp/six-arrested-in-connection-with-27m-typosquatting-scam
Good thing is that, they had already caught those six people because if that thing does not happen, the number of being affected by the scam will grow continuously. That is how expert hackers and scammers are.

So always be careful when visiting and trying some unfamiliar websites, always do research about it and read some reviews to assure yourself that it is legit.

These crimes will happen more as people do not heed to request from exchanges to always check the URL and never trust any emails which have links to exchange login page.

I have bookmarked exchange URL on my browser and have also added a plugin to verify the URL.

[stompix]

Hmmmm

Why do we have a fresh topic about something that happened in 2019?

The article links to a Europol press release from a year ago:
25 June 2019
Press Release
https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/6-arrested-in-uk-and-netherlands-in-%E2%82%AC24-million-cryptocurrency-theft

There are even older topics here on bitcointalk about it:
European Authorities Arrest Six Suspects for €24 Million Crypto Fraud
Europol Arrests Six People Allegedly Behind $27 Million Bitcoin Theft

[buwaytress]

27 million is a shitload of money, I still don't understand how grown people still don't use bookmarks and anyway check with 2FA to get shit secured. I got a kid who occasionally falls for typosquatting but he's got a really good excuse (doesn't and can't know better as he doesn't even type) but I thought with all the education and awareness people get, they still get tricked.

Bookmarking is really needed especially when you are visiting the same website over and over again like exchanges, online wallets and online banking, this is the main target for typosquatting. What I think of this is that, the domain providers should be accountable also for giving some people the altered domain of some famous websites, is this possible in any way?

That said, Bitcoin's simply not ready for the masses when even basic internet use isn't.

This speaks a lot. This is what I'm talking about with the mainstream adoption, we are dreaming even we're not ready for it.

Free market, and you can buy whatever name you want. Registrars possibly should be asked to immediately hand over any registration details for investigations, but you know, that's still doing it the wrong way to me. It's always awareness and education. Can't stop the criminals but you can preempt their moves. Even use that to enforcement advantage.

Anyway, yeah moves to make mainstream adoption easier have their flaws. Make internet so that nobody needs to understand how it works, so everyone can use it but few understand what they're getting themselves into. Same as all those custodial bitcoin wallets.

[Haunebu]

27 million is a shitload of money, I still don't understand how grown people still don't use bookmarks and anyway check with 2FA to get shit secured. I got a kid who occasionally falls for typosquatting but he's got a really good excuse (doesn't and can't know better as he doesn't even type) but I thought with all the education and awareness people get, they still get tricked.

This is not just a BTC problem. People fall for similar FIAT related scams too on a regular basis. For example, a lady who lived close to my place was arrested because she ran a network with shady people that tricked people into transferring money using lottery wins as bait.

Greed is the primary reason why so many people(Educated and uneducated) fall for these scams on a regular basis. Scammers will continue trapping them creatively in different ways.