Stock listing scams have resurfaced as scammers exploit growing interest in digital assets amid the recent market rally.
As part of these schemes, scammers pose as industry experts and exchange representatives to trick unsuspecting people and extort them into paying them for token listings.
Yi He, co-founder of binance and wife of former CEO Changpeng Zhao, recently alerted the community about a LinkedIn impersonator who was using her name and position to offer token listings in exchange for payment.
She clarified that she does not handle discussions about possible listings and urged caution when dealing with people who claim to be associated with her.
I would like to reveal a scam that has occurred quite frequently: I have a LinkedIn account, but I forgot the password a long time ago; I am also not in charge of discussing with projects for a possible quote; be careful with those who claim to be close to me and argue with you... pic.twitter.com/gpIj41vx92
-Yi He (@heyibinance) January 29, 2024
Scammers impersonate Binance staff members
In another post, blockchain author Anndy Lian screenshots revealed from scammers on WhatsApp posing as Binance staff members.
These scammers lure users with promises of free money for joining cryptocurrency discussion groups.
Lian emphasized that Binance does not offer these types of pools to earn passive income and warned against falling for these fraudulent schemes.
Binance's customer support team responded to these incidents by advising users to verify the authenticity of people claiming to represent the exchange.
They recommended using official links from the Binance website to verify contact details and warned against sharing account information with unofficial or unverified sources.
"It can be used for website link, email address, phone number, WeChat ID, Twitter account or Telegram ID," they said.
"Please do not contact any unofficial or unverified sources or reveal your account details to them."
Stock listing scams emerge during bull market
Stock listing scams have been a recurring problem, especially during bull market cycles.
In these schemes, scammers often target developers and project co-founders through seemingly legitimate LinkedIn profiles associated with reputable exchanges.
Once victims are convinced, scammers demand an initial โdepositโ to start the listing process, which often amounts to significant sums such as 250,000 USDT.
However, after receiving the deposit, the scammers disappear and the promised token list never materializes.
The cryptocurrency market has been plagued by different types of scams.
As reported, approximately 80% of comments Tweets from famous projects are occupied by phishing scam accounts.
Additionally, cryptocurrency users have expressed concern about an increase in phishing emails with crypto content, coming from the popular content creation platform Patreon.
According to reports on social media platforms such as X and Reddit, scammers register users' email addresses on Patreon accounts and then use those accounts to send malicious emails promoting fake crypto projects.
It is worth noting that despite losing around $2 billion to cryptocurrency thefts, 2023 saw a slight decrease in piracy incidents aimed at the cryptocurrency industry.
According to a recent report by De.FI, a prominent Web3 security company known for its REKT database, hackers managed to steal $2 billion in digital assets over the course of the year.
While that number is still alarming, it marks the first decrease in cryptocurrency hacking incidents since 2021.
