URGENT & BEWARE: Sophisticated Telegram Scammers

[blucepheus]

All,

Highly-sophisticated (and probably organized) scammers are closely monitoring the Collectibles section and targeting members of this forum via Telegram, and everyone needs to be aware and vigilant.

From what I have observed thus far, these sophisticated scammers fit the following profile:

Scammer Profile

• Use actual names of the forum members they are purporting to be; e.g. they will create a Telegram account with the name "blucepheus" and identify themselves as such
• Reference other items for sale by that individual so as to seem more legitimate; "take a look at my others items also -- here are some pics"
  
• Aware of current auctions and listings in this forum, and conversations that are occurring within each thread; they look for opportunities to "piggy back" off of a conversation so as to seem legitimate
• Well-versed in the terminology we use and processes we employ, such as escrow, in the Collectibles section
• Well-versed in the names and nicknames of our escrows, e.g. they will refer to minerjones as 'MJ'
• Knowledgeable in crypto and can "talk the talk"; they will make smalltalk discussing various types of collectibles and interests so as to build trust and rapport
• May spread the conversation out over multiple days so as not to spook you
• Use a lot of emojis to lighten the conversation and build trust
• Once they receive BTC to the wallet address specified, may instantly vanish and delete the conversation
• Once they are spooked (e.g. you call them out, or inform them you want to move the conversation to PM), will do the same

Members of this forum, newbies especially, are falling victim to these scams on a weekly if not daily basis, and are being scammed out of significant amounts of Bitcoin. The more members that fall for it, the more motivated this group will be to grow in size and in the sophistication of the techniques they employ.

They are ruthless. In fact, they exploited a member of this forum just today out of $1,500 in BTC in a charity auction.

Tips for Protecting Yourself

• Ensure your Telegram username does not match your name on Bitcointalk. It only takes a moment to change your username!
• Don't use Telegram for any communication pertaining to Collectibles transactions. If approached by someone purporting to be a member of this forum, request they contact you via PM
• Use a trusted escrow from this forum, and only communicate with the escrow via PM, not Telegram
• If a deal seems too good to be true, it is
• Do not provide personal identifying information via Telegram, including your real name and/or address
• Validate the identity of the person you are chatting with on Telegram, even if they are not approaching you about an immediate transaction. They may engage in casual conversation over days, weeks or months before finally asking if you'd like to purchase something. You may then find out that they were never who you thought they were
• SLOW DOWN. Do not impulsively send someone BTC. If you look close enough and take time to reflect, there are red flags despite the sophistication of these scammers

And since I know these scammers will be reading this message within the next minute:

F*%$ off. We're smarter than you, and we'll prove it.

Hold your BTC tight, and remain vigilant.

-bc

[1715123696]

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[1715123696]

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[teeGUMES]

• SLOW DOWN.

Most important point in this whole thing. Very good writeup.

[actmyname]

Remember: Bitcoin gives you all the tools you need!How to sign a message?!

Operate according to the blockchain principles: verify everything is right before you transact. We do that with past blocks, so why not with users as well?

[iBitcoinHongKong8]

Excellent post! The more BTC rises the more of all types of scams we will see! Good luck and stay safe everyone!

iBHK8

[Sat0shisGhost]

F*%$ off. We're smarter than you, and we'll prove it.

Pretty sure they did not anticipate getting a mining pool involved to replace transactions

[SatsLife]

Lost of very interesting details to take note of today. 

[Gatorelf]

I suppose this is the Telegram

Telegram is a freeware, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging software and application service. The service also provides end-to-end encrypted video calling, VoIP, file sharing and several other features. It was initially launched for iOS on 14 August 2013 and Android in October

There are scammers everywhere you have to be on your toes. I went to Major restaurant chain store couple weeks ago to try out something new on their menu. My card would not swipe (Bent)  so I gave her my CC.  By hte time I got home (30 minutes later) there was $1,000 in tennis shoes and a Pandora Bracelet charged to my account lol.  The Bank took care of it  but wow ..  they are everywhere   

[owlcatz]

IMO, most people who get scammed on telegram just use the "Default" application settings, which allows anybody to add you to a channel IIRC...

So... TURN THAT SHIT OFF, FFS!!! Take note of ALL your settings, as it's also easy to give out your phone number if you are not careful with contacts and such.

Good luck to all, and cheers!


Oh shit I missed this!!

There are scammers everywhere you have to be on your toes. I went to Major restaurant chain store couple weeks ago to try out something new on their menu. My card would not swipe (Bent)  so I gave her my CC.  By hte time I got home (30 minutes later) there was $1,000 in tennis shoes and a Pandora Bracelet charged to my account lol.  The Bank took care of it  but wow ..  they are everywhere  

How does that have to do with telegram? Don't you know anybody next to you can skim your swipe strip on your debit/cc card without RFID shielding on your actual "pocket" wallet..

Any more details on what happened? That sucks and I know the pain / hassles it causes firsthand lol

[MoparMiningLLC]

also helpful if those that do dealings on telegram put a link to their account in signature - then if someone is contacted by said individual, all you need to do is click the telegram in their profile or signature and if it opens a different convo - then yea the person reaching out to you on telegram is a fraud.

[actmyname]

Take note of ALL your settings, as it's also easy to give out your phone number if you are not careful with contacts and such.

Key privacy points include removing the whole "add by phone number".

Someone brute-forcing phone contacts can easily harvest Telegram users and number connections.I would suggest turning everything in the "Privacy and Security" section to Nobody and (if unavailable) My contacts. Unless you are going to constantly network with people publicly, protect your privacy.

One Telegram tool that is useful is @userinfobot: I will sometimes forward messages here to verify users.

[WhyFhy]

-snip-

I can verify these guys are playing dirty right now!

This needs to be pinned here AND Hardware section!

Picture proofs and asking for forum escrow usually singles these guys out really quick.
This is goin on in discord as well where I've seen users posing as escrow providers.
These scams are going for ticket FOMO items too.
BE VIGILANT !!!

[cygan]

i was also contacted last weekend by a telegram scammer pretending to be the user 'blucepheus'
he offered me a 100k btcc roll and a 1 BTC cas coin...
after i told him that i was interested but he should send me a proof/pictures about his btt-account via pm, there was dead silence. but i didn't contact him again and didn't delete him from telegram. one day later he had a new profile picture and the username 'ognasty'...

don't be fooled by the scammers, and in the worst case ask for a proof/pictures about the actual account via forum-pm

[blucepheus]

after i told him that i was interested but he should send me a proof/pictures about his btt-account via pm, there was dead silence

A scammer posing as Krogoth took it a step further. I asked for verification via PM. They then reached out to Krogoth posing as me asking him to send me a PM. Still didn’t feel right, so I asked for the answer to a riddle Krogoth recently posted. Then they vanished.

Unless a close compadre, seems it’s best to keep communication exclusively on the forum.

[MoparMiningLLC]

I had one message me on telegram trying to get me to buy some coin - I dont recall which but at one point they changed their telegram name to DaveF and then deleted the account.

[blucepheus]

I’ve added the following note to my signature. Perhaps others will follow suit and the warning/reminder will be prevalent across the forum.

I will never discuss the sale of Collectibles on Telegram or any other messaging client outside the forum. Beware of scammers.

[Gatorelf]

Oh shit I missed this!!

There are scammers everywhere you have to be on your toes. I went to Major restaurant chain store couple weeks ago to try out something new on their menu. My card would not swipe (Bent)  so I gave her my CC.  By hte time I got home (30 minutes later) there was $1,000 in tennis shoes and a Pandora Bracelet charged to my account lol.  The Bank took care of it  but wow ..  they are everywhere  

How does that have to do with telegram? Don't you know anybody next to you can skim your swipe strip on your debit/cc card without RFID shielding on your actual "pocket" wallet..

Any more details on what happened? That sucks and I know the pain / hassles it causes firsthand lol

[/quote]

well I just added it as scammers have seemed to increase 300% or so the last 10 years. 

I Have an RFID wallet, I only use that card for Gas always at the pump and I know what a skimmer looks like.  I figure the girl who took my card skimmed it. That way she also had access to the three digit code on the back and then wrote it down. I gave that info to the banks fraud division they can do what they want with it. The good news is they cover any unauthorized purchase within 24 hours.

[Steeley]

I can confirm this is happening. I bought a coin from Blucephus and afterwards I received an invitation to connect on Telegram in order to discuss more things about collectibles. I thought this was a little weird, but very friendly on Blucephus' part. : ) I didn't connect, but I am not sure I realized this was part of a scam until seeing this post.

So, anyway, the main take away from all this is that Blucephus isn't as nice as a thought he was : ) [obvious joke - blu is a straight up guy]

I will be adding the statement BC posted above to my profile.

[SatsLife]

I will never discuss the sale of Collectibles on Telegram or any other messaging client outside the forum. Beware of scammers.

But what happens if your forum account gets hacked?

[blucepheus]

I will never discuss the sale of Collectibles on Telegram or any other messaging client outside the forum. Beware of scammers.

But what happens if your forum account gets hacked?

There is no sure fire way of protecting oneself and one another, but there are best practices.

On the topic of account compromises, it would be wise for the forum to require multi-factor authentication. Until then, I’d recommend a very strong and random password not used for other accounts.

[actmyname]

On the topic of account compromises, it would be wise for the forum to require multi-factor authentication. Until then, I’d recommend a very strong and random password not used for other accounts.

You can stake your address or PGP key on the forum and sign messages to confirm your cryptographic identity.

In fact, communicated through PGP-encrypted messages is ideal for truly private communication.