Scammers are getting innovative.

[DVlog]

I wants to share one of my stories where some people try to scam my Discord server. At first, i need to give a quick intro about my work. I am a full time community manager in discord and i am working with a project where i am the head moderator. Now lets get to the main story.

There were some members who were actively making posts on our discord server about hiring moderators in some kind of NFT-related discord server. At first, i thought it was just a spam message and start ignoring it. After few days one guy messaged my inbox by saying he is very impressed with my work managing discord server so now he wants to hire me into their discord server as a community moderator. For being a professional discord community moderator i show interest and start asking about his project. In the meanwhile, he invite in into a group he created where his so called boss wants to talk with me. After doing some general conversation he said he is interested and wants to take an interview of me before making any job contract. So we start talking through voice call and he asked me some basic moderation related questions.

It was just like a professional job interview and there was no way to be vigilant till this points. After the interview, he offered me a handsome amount of money that i can not reject so i accepted his offer. He sent a url and told me i need to fill up this form right now with my details before we can make the contract. That URL looks pretty normal to me so i clicked it and start filling the form.  But when i tried to click submit button it written there is a problem with the submit button so drag the url of the submit button to your browser's bookmark bar to submit the form. When i drag that button i have noticed there is a script written in there. In the meanwhile, i was still connected with that guy in voice call and he was constantly pushing me to do the work fast. I disconnected from that call and delete cookies from my browser. After some investigation, i found out that there was a javascript written in there which will give that scammer access to my browser and my discord account. Furthermore i found out they are a group of people who hack Moderators account into a discord server and post fake airdrop promotion to scam people.



Crypto space fast-paced technological innovation to bring simplicity and add more security to human life. So scammers are also finding new ways to scam people. Do not fall for the same kind of trap if you are a moderator in any crypto project. You might lose your server and job as well.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Well, someone in your field of work should know how to make security a top priority because if, by mistake, anything leads to your security being compromised, it can cause losses not only to you but also to others. My brother also had a similar experience where he was asked to submit some country IDs, a resident permit, and a utility bill before he could be accepted to work just as a telegram moderator, but he was wise enough not to submit those documents, and later it was discovered that those guys were just scammers. Who knows what they were going to use those IDs for? Everyone who is just into any online-related work or investment really needs to take their security seriously; otherwise, it can ruin their reputation, depending on what the case is, or cause them to lose their assets.

[DVlog]

Well, someone in your field of work should know how to make security a top priority because if, by mistake, anything leads to your security being compromised, it can cause losses not only to you but also to others. My brother also had a similar experience where he was asked to submit some country IDs, a resident permit, and a utility bill before he could be accepted to work just as a telegram moderator, but he was wise enough not to submit those documents, and later it was discovered that those guys were just scammers. Who knows what they were going to use those IDs for? Everyone who is just into any online-related work or investment really needs to take their security seriously; otherwise, it can ruin their reputation, depending on what the case is, or cause them to lose their assets.

I do know another incident where a scammer tries to hack the victim's computer by asking him to be a game tester in their P2E game. The victim was a professional gamer and was not aware of the security risk from crypto-related projects. He was lucky that he uses VMware to run that games on his computer. He later found that wasn't any games instead it was an application that can inject malware into the system and gain access to that system.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

Crypto space fast-paced technological innovation to bring simplicity and add more security to human life. So scammers are also finding new ways to scam people. Do not fall for the same kind of trap if you are a moderator in any crypto project. You might lose your server and job as well.

One thing you just need to know is that it only take a professional to scam people, of which whenever you are dealing with total strangers, you should always have that in mind to make security your top most priority so you don't fall victim to what you will later regret. But I'm happy you discovered quickly and didn't fall for it, because one thing scammer do is put their client into pressure, which is a clear sign to always look out for whenever dealing with total strangers online, as whenever you noticed you are been put under pressure, just notice it's likely to be a scam.

[Adams0001]

To prevent being a victim of online scams, every investor must be aware of them and, most importantly, it is recommended that you seek the advice of a reputable and result-oriented fund manager to assist you through the foundations of cryptocurrency investment and trading.The benchmark and live wire of each successful investment is information, and a lack of appropriate expertise information leads to severe failure and sorrow. Furthermore, knowledge creates a stark contrast between a successful and failed investor; thus, the importance of qualitative expertise information cannot be overstated. Currently, I am generating a significant profit by investing in crypto currencies because I use the services of a professional team who handles my investment, preventing me from slipping into the wrong hands.scammers.Always seek the appropriate knowledge, because ignorance is not an excuse for failure. Don't be desperate; instead, learn to conduct qualitative research and evaluate the feasibility and viability before sacrificing your hard-earned money.

[bitbollo]

Not surprised at all, and thanks so much for share here your story.
Why not create a topic also in https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=83.0 scam accusation board maybe providing some details / screenshot and so on? For sure this can help other people since it's an uncommon way for a scam....

[Aikidoka]

I hope he didn't steal anything from your browser or even your Discord account. You should be more careful about these types of scammers as they constantly come up with new tricks to make victims falls into it. They may try to hack your accounts using suspicious links or other methods.

Being protected from such tricks should be your top priority to be honest, since you're already a Discord Mod. Don't pursue new opportunities without ensuring your safety first as one mistake could mess up everything you've built online.

[lionheart78]

Scammers' tactics and methods being exposed need them to think of another way to lure and trap their victim.  For them, they need to be one step ahead of everyone since their scams can be effective in a limited time when they are not exposed.  Once they got a victim, then information about their dirty tactics will be spread out in the community where that victim belong and eventually outside their group.

In referene to your story, I am glad that you are able to detect the scam and the possible hacking.  This revelation will give us information on how to avoid these kinds of scammers so I thank you for sharing your experience with us.  Btw, have you run anti-malware and anti-virus on your system?  It is better to check whether there is some malware injection in your system and eliminate them completely.

In a way we wanted to avoid scams, we should always stay vigilant and detect if the offer is too good to be true and if we are uncomfortable with the communication, we can always put a stop to it and avoid the people we are suspecting of a scam.  It is better safe than sorry and let us not greed take over our decision.  Greed is the area that is commonly exploited by scammers.

[Cantsay]

I think the person who was the master mind behind this hack attempt must have been a moderator for some other server or has the experience of a moderator to have been have to pull up this slick move up to that point.

I have seen and also heard some complain about being hacked after clicking links sent to a discord channel by a random stranger but this, I haven’t seen before. It’s not everyday you see a scammer arranging an interview with someone they wish to hack some might just try to cajole you introducing a mouth dripping amount that’s almost impossible to resist.

Well, you should follow the advice of the post above and either create a thread in the scans accusation board or just move this one there. And just add the link in “code” and also add a little warning so as to give us a general idea of what to do when we come across such url since you said it was not out of the ordinary.

[CryptSafe]

OP, you should know that the more advanced  technology gets the more scammers Improvise to continue with their nefarious act. They know that there are still people out BB there who would fall victim of their acts so they do not lie low. They keep using new tactics to survive.
You as a moderator should know that you are always a target because you have large number of followers or community you moderate and as such, you are a good target to scammers because only you the community listen to as a result of your position so of the scammers can take that position of yours then they could play a very fast game on they community hence you see the reasons moderators are always a target.

So it would be nice you protect your account so as not to get hacked because if they succeed in hacking your account, they next thing they target is your community and those you moderate.

[LogitechMouse]

~
Crypto space fast-paced technological innovation to bring simplicity and add more security to human life. So scammers are also finding new ways to scam people. Do not fall for the same kind of trap if you are a moderator in any crypto project. You might lose your server and job as well.

With lots of Discord channels that I am in right now, I've seen this many times already.
As a member of the channel, you will just surprised that a moderator or an admin of that channel will just share some information that isn't normal for an admin to do such as sending links, promoting scams blah blah. The last one that I remember was the Discord channel of Apeswap where the hacker posted a link. Same with Pegaxy, and Axie Infinity as well.

I guess simply ignoring these type of random DM's is the best solution for it. I mean I understand that OP is a community moderator, and there might be some people who are interested in his/her service, but I don't think that the legit ones will just simply send you a DM out of nowhere and telling to apply for their project. Only scammers are doing that. Scammers right now are becoming more, and more clever as technology is evolving in such a rapid pace. I just hope that we all remain vigilant at all times, and always be careful in clicking the links online.

[Potato Chips]

I do know another incident where a scammer tries to hack the victim's computer by asking him to be a game tester in their P2E game. The victim was a professional gamer and was not aware of the security risk from crypto-related projects. He was lucky that he uses VMware to run that games on his computer. He later found that wasn't any games instead it was an application that can inject malware into the system and gain access to that system.

That's actually a good precaution method. Running a VM is another way to compartmentalize potential problems. I advise to do the same whenever you wanna dabble into the unknown. I'd say it's also a good idea to create an alt account (that'll only stay on VM) for job interviews and such so you don't place the servers you're managing in your main account in danger.

However know it's not 100% safe method as there's an unlikely chance some malware/s could escape to your host OS hence I would treat VMs as your plan B. - backup plan. The plan A is knowing when to stop. In this case, the bit where there's a handsome fee ++ they need you to drag and drop in order to submit the form doesn't make sense hence extremely sus.

[hatshepsut93]

Thanks for sharing your story. I think it highlights that the broad attacks can be easy to avoid - many people know not to open spam letters, respond to messages that offer something, click on ads, etc. But if you get attacked personally by a realm human who can convince you, especially if they make a realistic offer, that's a whole another level. Especially if they don't ask you to give them money, but instead try to hack you.

[mk4]

Scammers have always been innovative. With computer systems being harder and harder to hack as time goes, they'll continue to gear towards attempting social engineering attacks. All we can do is to keep our eyes peeled all the time because there's simply just so much scam variations to have an article for each.

[DVlog]

Not surprised at all, and thanks so much for share here your story.
Why not create a topic also in https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=83.0 scam accusation board maybe providing some details / screenshot and so on? For sure this can help other people since it's an uncommon way for a scam....

I would love to do that but the problem is deleted those data as soon as i found out they were scammers. I should have take some screenshot before clear those chatting history.  I posted it here because i think a lot of newbies use this board so they might notice and be cautious.

[YUriy1991]

It was just like a professional job interview and there was no way to be vigilant till this points. After the interview, he offered me a handsome amount of money that i can not reject so i accepted his offer. He sent a url and told me i need to fill up this form right now with my details before we can make the contract. That URL looks pretty normal to me so i clicked it and start filling the form.  But when i tried to click submit button it written there is a problem with the submit button so drag the url of the submit button to your browser's bookmark bar to submit the form. When i drag that button i have noticed there is a script written in there. In the meanwhile, i was still connected with that guy in voice call and he was constantly pushing me to do the work fast. I disconnected from that call and delete cookies from my browser. After some investigation, i found out that there was a javascript written in there which will give that scammer access to my browser and my discord account. Furthermore i found out they are a group of people who hack Moderators account into a discord server and post fake airdrop promotion to scam people.

Crypto space fast-paced technological innovation to bring simplicity and add more security to human life. So scammers are also finding new ways to scam people. Do not fall for the same kind of trap if you are a moderator in any crypto project. You might lose your server and job as well.

Yes. this is a message for users and you certainly probably understand very well. The general rules that we have to remember in Discord, a moderator or admin never DM members directly and these are the most common rules, for example in the NFT world. So, how do you avoid these bandits? Turn off the "allow direct messages from server members" feature in the Discord privacy settings menu, then right-click the Discord group logo, then select Privacy Settings and turn off the DM feature. If this feature is turned off, the fraudster joins. the group won't be able to DM you.

For example, another example. Suppose we want to install the Metamask wallet extension in a browser, then we open Discord in the same browser. If you click on the DM link, the fraudsters let alone approve the contract.
     

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

There were some members who were actively making posts on our discord server about hiring moderators in some kind of NFT-related discord server. At first, i thought it was just a spam message and start ignoring it.

As a head moderator of that Discord server, you should delete those spam messages and ban those members. Ignore such messages and members is not good moderation.

After few days one guy messaged my inbox by saying he is very impressed with my work managing discord server so now he wants to hire me into their discord server as a community moderator.

DM first is very early signal of potential scammers.
No project will find moderators by joining other projects' Discord servers to do head hunting.

It was just like a professional job interview and there was no way to be vigilant till this points. After the interview, he offered me a handsome amount of money that i can not reject so i accepted his offer. He sent a url and told me i need to fill up this form right now with my details before we can make the contract.
...
After some investigation, i found out that there was a javascript written in there which will give that scammer access to my browser and my discord account. Furthermore i found out they are a group of people who hack Moderators account into a discord server and post fake airdrop promotion to scam people.

Always be suspicious and careful with links from anyone and if it is from people who DM you first, I think if I was you, I would have one more reason to not click on the link.

[SCAM] Hiring Discord Moderator from @Saruc. One senior member was scammed and lost his Discord account.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Regarding a sudden post on official discord its better to confirm that on other social media or at least noted or posted on their website. Cause there were a lot of cases in the discord that they pinned post an airdrop link that is quite suspicious that when you check their other socials there is no details about it. Means posisbly it got compromise. You need to be careful and check first if the announcement made is totally from the team and not a hacker who take over the group discord.

[348Judah]

Crypto space fast-paced technological innovation to bring simplicity and add more security to human life. So scammers are also finding new ways to scam people. Do not fall for the same kind of trap if you are a moderator in any crypto project. You might lose your server and job as well.

For someone to be referred to as scammer, such an individual must have veen a highly interlectual fellow which out of greed or lack of opportunities makes them to invent on scamming people who are very careless of how they handle their portfolios in cryptocurrency, i used to say this that if scammers could be so desperate to learn and know various ways they could steal our funds from us, how much more we that owns the asset not to learn how to secure them from scammers by regularly being updated and being on security alert.

[Fiatless]

Crypto space fast-paced technological innovation to bring simplicity and add more security to human life. So scammers are also finding new ways to scam people. Do not fall for the same kind of trap if you are a moderator in any crypto project. You might lose your server and job as well.

Thank you, OP for sharing. When I was reading your thread I saw a well-planned scam setting. It was made to look like a formal employment process with little concern to suspect it was a fraud. But this experience is a lesson that everything on the internet should be treated with suspicion. Every offer is a scam or fraudulent until it is proved otherwise. Having this mindset will help one not to reduce the security standard while using the internet. I am always careful when strangers promise to pay me high sums that is hard to refuse. When I am asked to click on a link to fill a document,  I am also alert. It is better to send the information through other safe means.