[Alert] Someone sending emails "Donate to Bitcoin Forum"

[Avirunes]

I have just now received an email with subject "Donate to Bitcoin Forum" from bitcointalkdonations@gmail.com on the email associated with my bitcointalk account with content:

Donation address: 1LEaMgzwd7ESndfXRT3BUR5rDgKwSxmKbp

The Bitcoin Forum is a website meant to host free discussion of Bitcoin and related topics. It is operated mainly as a service to the community, and the vast majority of income after expenses is either saved for future expenses or reinvested into the forum or the community. The forum was started in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, the original creator of Bitcoin. It is now managed by theymos, BadBear, Cyrus, and a dedicated team of moderators. Forum finances are managed by theymos.

If you donate 10 BTC, you can get a special "Donator" title and a green "who's online" color. If you donate 50 BTC, you get VIP status and the ability to create a custom title for yourself. Both Donators and VIPs also get access to an exclusive forum section. You must contact theymos prior to donating if you want to take advantage of this offer: you will be given a unique donation address. See this forum topic for more details.

Thank you for your interest in donating to the Bitcoin Forum!

List of VIP Donators (50 BTC)
smart1985
Canaca
casascius
mndrix
Als Pawnshop
btcx
Brian DeLoach
zhoutong
Metabank.ru
BTC_Bear
pirateat40
znort987
jorgen
Graet
gigavps
cryptoxchange
BitAvenue
Goat
Btc4Domains
mrbrown
01BTC10
imsaguy
cablepair
BitcoinBaltar
usagi
BCB
eb3full
MemoryDealers
augustocroppo
buzzdave
Dustin D. Trammell a.k.a. I)ruid
XMLGold
bitconexfoier
johnascii
Hexadecibel
mLiberty
lixiaolai
TradeFortress
List of Donators (10 BTC)
Narydu
Blitzboom
qwk
shakaru
Lord Fog
FNIB
Transisto
Gyom
molecular
ribuck
edd
eldentyrell
chunglam
DeepBit
PMX-67-de
DeathAndTaxes
copumpkin
Matthew N. Wright
Jonathan Ryan Owens
cbeast
reeses
coretechs
mcorlett
bo2573
PatrickHarnett
Meni Rosenfeld
Boss
BadBitcoin
Seal
organofcorti
lonelyminer
jarsumarsu
bitsforcoins
aurumxchange
CAcoins
gnar1ta$
bccasino
BitcoinExchange
BrightAnarchist
AndyG
Kluge
lightlord
OgNasty
wogaut
TheBitLLC
deego
coblee
tgmarks
zefir
Raize
PsychoticBoy
AniceInovation
packet7
tseale
Blaztoize
ciuciu
minimalB
bitfoo
iSellBitcoins
cytokine
Jake
Fordy
nave
datafish
coinrolls2
vescudero
miaviator
ShadowAlexey
DeaDTerra
vasgolova
friedcat
Otoh
ianspain
Soros Shorts
bg002h
ElitePork
RustyRyan
deeplink
zebedee
physicist
gllen
Jutarul
ShadesOfMarble
muyuu
Kris
c_k
lukasbradley
Alwaysmining
Arto
ztex
BlackLilac
torac
glassuser
buybitcoinbycreditcard
betbybitcoin
Arcurus
HorseRider
primeasic
mah87
bitsalame
rpietila
aristodemus
zeroday
pierrejo
CanaryInTheMine
ajk
Hailong
betcointm
WhiteyAGM
BitBet.com
Spondoolies-Tech
BitmainWarranty
fluffypony
Claymore

There are lot of email addresses to which they were send to along with mine. Main purpose is to alert everyone that there is someone attempting to asking for donation in bitcointalk's name.

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[Little Mouse]

It is now managed by theymos, BadBear, Cyrus, and a dedicated team of moderators. Forum finances are managed by theymos.

The hacker is from which era? Badbear isn't any more stuff for a long time now. If I'm correct Badbear was an admin back in the day.

Edit- I just had a quick Google search and found this attempt isn't a new attempt. The hacker used the same message and trick back in 2017 too- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2251364.0

I haven't received any email. So, it seems the hacker is using the email list from 2015 hack.

[albon]

I have just now received an email with subject "Donate to Bitcoin Forum" from bitcointalkdonations@gmail.com on the email associated with my bitcointalk account with content

Well, the sender email of the scammer is @Gmail It proves that this is a bogus message and this is the deposit address of his wallet; anyone can create an email similar to the official forum mail: noreply@bitcointalk.org with different styles, letters, and domains, so the emails should not be trusted by any person blindly without doing his research, in addition to the donation price to obtain a unique title for the Donator and the VIP are 10-50 BTC. Is there a beginner or mentally disturbed person who can donate this large amount through a message received in the inbox of his email that is full of spam and fraudulent messages? Frankly, I doubt it because of the increased awareness of people and even that these methods are outdated, but in any case, thank you for this topic.

[notblox1]

I have just now received an email with subject "Donate to Bitcoin Forum" from bitcointalkdonations@gmail.com on the email associated with my bitcointalk account with content

I always ask people the same question when they tell me about emails like this, did you use this address for registering anything else except bitcointalk forum?
There is no public visible email address in your profile, and I didn't hear anyone else receiving email with same content like you, but we all know forum is not asking for donations anymore.
I think it is good idea for you to change and use new and unique address for your profile to reduce spam emails like this.

[Husires]

GMail address, this scammer is so lazy that even some of the information in the message is very old and has not been updated.
Who will donate 10 bitcoins to get membership in the forum? Is there a forum member this stupid to believe this fraud.

The hacker is from which era? Badbear isn't any more stuff for a long time now. If I'm correct Badbear was an admin back in the day.

He still using old Legacy (P2PKH) addresses and zero balance https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1LEaMgzwd7ESndfXRT3BUR5rDgKwSxmKbp

It seems that no one was fooled by this scam.

[Poker Player]

Who will donate 10 bitcoins to get membership in the forum? Is there a forum member this stupid to believe this fraud.

That's what I thought, I don't think that people who today have 10 or 50 Bitcoins to donate, which means they have many more, are so stupid as to fall for such a crude scam.

The bad thing about scams is that if only one person falls, it is very profitable for them. Sending one of those emails does not cost them much, and although in this case I don't think anyone will fall, in others there is usually a clueless person who does not realize the scam. Only with one person, or a few, falling into the trap they have achieved their goal.

[UchihaSarada]

I have just now received an email with subject "Donate to Bitcoin Forum" from bitcointalkdonations [dot] gmail.com on the email associated with my bitcointalk account with content:

The email address is invalid and a signal of scam, phishing.

If any email is sent by the Bitcointalk.org forum, it will be anything but with @bitcoin.org at the end, like donation [dot] bitcoin.org. I don't know the forum has that email address and it is my example.

Using Google gmail, yahoo mail, proton mail is signal of scam.

If you see donation [dot] bitcoin.org, you must be careful and check more. Scammers can use Homograph attack too.
Homograph phishing attacks. When user awareness is not enough
Out of character: Homograph attacks explained

[Avirunes]

The hacker is from which era? Badbear isn't any more stuff for a long time now. If I'm correct Badbear was an admin back in the day.

Edit- I just had a quick Google search and found this attempt isn't a new attempt. The hacker used the same message and trick back in 2017 too- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2251364.0

I haven't received any email. So, it seems the hacker is using the email list from 2015 hack.

Yeah lot of things are off about the email like mention of Badbear (who isn't active), the email address from it was sent and the content of it and plus forums not asking for donations so it is someone asking for donation under forum's name. I feel it is likely that he acquired my email ID through the database hack perhaps.

[...]
in addition to the donation price to obtain a unique title for the Donator and the VIP are 10-50 BTC. Is there a beginner or mentally disturbed person who can donate this large amount through a message received in the inbox of his email that is full of spam and fraudulent messages? Frankly, I doubt it because of the increased awareness of people and even that these methods are outdated, but in any case, thank you for this topic.

Those were the old donations upon which one would get a tag. If memory serves me right then someone actually donated around 10 BTC last in 2016-18 (around). There were lot of questions about 10 BTC-50 BTC donation amount but now it is removed and they are somehow working it out with fee revenue and advertising as mentioned in donations page.

BTW its funny that the impersonator is hoping that someone with deep pockets will get fooled easily. 

I think it is good idea for you to change and use new and unique address for your profile to reduce spam emails like this.

Good point, I need to check if I had revealed my email-id public somewhere and will change to a new one.

It seems that no one was fooled by this scam.

I hardly think anyone will get fooled by him. No body in his right mind will go around donating significant amount of money without confirming things.

[...] Only with one person, or a few, falling into the trap they have achieved their goal.

And that will be hard to come by. I don't think most people have that kind of amount which they feel free to donate. Still it's true that its only one person falling into trap can make their life. Best we can do is aware others so I just hope nobody falls for this.

If you see donation [dot] bitcoin.org, you must be careful and check more. Scammers can use Homograph attack too.
Homograph phishing attacks. When user awareness is not enough
Out of character: Homograph attacks explained

Interesting, that's really a good read actually.

[Lucius]

~snip~
I haven't received any email. So, it seems the hacker is using the email list from 2015 hack.

I have also never received such an e-mail, which only goes to the fact that someone is using the database of accounts that were hacked somewhere around 2015, and considering that many changed their e-mails after that and that many from that period are no longer active, I think that this "hacker" just wasted his time.

In addition, everyone who is active on the forum should know that donations of this type are no longer possible, or it just seems to me that I read that somewhere?

[Avirunes]

or it just seems to me that I read that somewhere?

Here is an excerpt from Donations page that I think you might have read from that reads as:

Because we are able to operate comfortably using advertising and fee revenue along with our BTC reserves, we no longer collect donations. If you want to help the forum, please make good posts, report rule-breaking posts, and invite friends. If you want to donate BTC, donate it to a charity, or maybe even to your fellow forum members.

[JeromeTash]

The hacker is from which era? Badbear isn't any more stuff for a long time now. If I'm correct Badbear was an admin back in the day.

Edit- I just had a quick Google search and found this attempt isn't a new attempt. The hacker used the same message and trick back in 2017 too- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2251364.0

I haven't received any email. So, it seems the hacker is using the email list from 2015 hack.

Yeah, if you look at the template of the Bitcointalk donation page back then, this is how it looked like - https://archive.is/qpHjb

So I believe the hacker just copied and pasted the information from the page while changing the address only.

Good point, I need to check if I had revealed my email-id public somewhere and will change to a new one.

This can be a good start - https://haveibeenpwned.com

[erep]

Here is an excerpt from Donations page that I think you might have read from that reads as:

Because we are able to operate comfortably using advertising and fee revenue along with our BTC reserves, we no longer collect donations. If you want to help the forum, please make good posts, report rule-breaking posts, and invite friends. If you want to donate BTC, donate it to a charity, or maybe even to your fellow forum members.

very clear, important point that the forum no longer collects donations for any reason or purpose.

But I will reveal some indications of scammer messages for the purpose of fake donations, phishing, malware, and others, especially from the email message above it can be concluded that there are indications that have been found:

1. Check the senders email address, scammers create a new email related to the source name to convince the recipient. Usually scammers will send bulk messages to targeted recipient email lists.

2. Narrative, the scammer will gather information from various sources to compose the first paragraph message about the history of bitcointalk, many beginners may feel convinced that way so continue reading the instructions from the next paragraph.

.3. Purpose and Evidence, the point of the second paragraph is the main goal of scammers, they ask for donations according to the amount of donations on the official forum, but they can change the donation lower to get funds from the victim, they also add proof that the user has donated to the forum so that the victim will be interested in donating to contribute to the forum.

So be careful trusting messages from unofficial sources, the main thing is to always check the sender's email address, if it is not an official source email then ignore the message without reading the message content.

[NotATether]

LOL. They just copied and pasted the official bitcointalk donation banner and just replaced the address, using some no-name @gmail address.

And a big chunk of the Donators and VIPs also happen to be scammers. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence 

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

I have just now received an email with subject "Donate to Bitcoin Forum" from bitcointalkdonations@gmail.com on the email associated with my bitcointalk account with content:

This is pure scam, desist from having anything to do with such user and if possible block him, the forum does not partake in doing anything related to this kind nasty act.

I will also advise you to make sure that you go to your forum profile and disable your email address from public view, this will prevent others seing your email address whenever they check through your profile, also you have to be very careful of the sites you visit while online, where you made registration and fill some sort of google forms and google ads prompts that request for your email address, don't be too open for them to target you as their next victim.

[lovesmayfamilis]

In any case, I would not underestimate the hacker. Anyone who has received emails like this should probably check for holes in their security system and change their password and email. If we see that the hacker is naive, then perhaps he was counting on this, seeing how people click on links in letters. Working with Windows, some undetectable malware can easily be installed on user's computers, which does not manifest itself for a long time.
I am writing this not from an influx of paranoia but from the fact that today's hackers are also growing, along with the growing information security of users.
And of course, in this case, we meet with an idiot who sends spam and nonsense, not with a skilled social engineering hacker.

[Mpamaegbu]

If you donate 10 BTC, you can get a special "Donator" title and a green "who's online" color. If you donate 50 BTC, you get VIP status and the ability to create a custom title for yourself.

This also shows laziness on the part of whoever sent out that mail as they couldn't edit it. It should be a mail from way back when donating 50 BTC would seem like giving out like 50 Dogecoin in today's world. In the present reality no one will dare ask anyone to donate ⅒ of such.

Main purpose is to alert everyone that there is someone attempting to asking for donation in bitcointalk's name.

Thanks for warning the community. I believe anyone who falls for such ploy isn't given to wisdom. However, how were they able to get email addresses of users here seeing that most users don't expose their emails. Could it be they did in the past or when they participated in bounties?

I haven't received any email. So, it seems the hacker is using the email list from 2015 hack.

I guess that's the case because I haven't received any too.

[JollyGood]

I did not receive any such email either but the scam attempt is probably one of those in which the scammer sends a message to a group of email addresses in the hope of getting even one from the lot to send him some Bitcoin. It is almost akin to a hit and miss type.

I have also never received such an e-mail, which only goes to the fact that someone is using the database of accounts that were hacked somewhere around 2015, and considering that many changed their e-mails after that and that many from that period are no longer active, I think that this "hacker" just wasted his time.

In addition, everyone who is active on the forum should know that donations of this type are no longer possible, or it just seems to me that I read that somewhere?

[Adbitco]

I didn't get the mail maybe it was a targeted mail for some specific users in other for them to fall victim of their scam. As I believe too well that you and I know that this forum would never asked for any donations secretly or privately from their users and for getting any position or customized title it should come from the members to either request for it and not the forum requesting members to occupy those positions.

This is a pure scam mail and I believe only those who don't know their way about that may fall for this cheap scammers, hence I may urge those that received the mail to quickly change their password and email address that was originally associated with the account otherwise there's every possibility for their account to get hacked.
We all have to be very careful and mindful with some forms of mails or even pm we received everyday by day.

[Nwada001]

I have just now received an email with subject "Donate to Bitcoin Forum" from bitcointalkdonations@gmail.com on the email associated with my bitcointalk account with content:

It's funny how scammers are going about looking for ways to scam people. Who knows the means they use in acquiring all these emails, and I believe they target people they actually think can make some donations. And another mistake they made is that, back then, when all this huge donation was made to the forum, the price of Bitcoin was not even half of where it is today.

Let me ask the scammer some questions: who do you think right now will be able to donate 10–50 bitcoins again with the current Bitcoin price?

The scammer should have at least made some minor edits to the original donation page and reduced the amount to be donated this time around.

[Lida93]

I can't remember accessing the forum through an email while registering as a member. So I wonder how myself or any other forum members that knows how the forum works will then give a serious attention to such GMAIL message for a donation of 50BTC. That's not small amount of money for anyone to fall victim for by email except such members have not really being paying attention to the forum activities.

Anything such as this would be made known in the forum and not through some email. What was the scammer thinking