In Russia, scammers announce the start of investments in a ‘state cryptocurrency’

Unknown criminals organized a mailing in Russia announcing the launch of a ‘state cryptocurrency’. ForkLog was told this by experts from Kaspersky Lab.

Only by the end of February did the company’s specialists record several thousand such emails.

The scheme comprises several stages. At first, a potential victim receives an email allegedly from the regulator about the imminent rollout of the digital ruble. The message is typically supported by ‘expert opinions’ about the asset’s substantial potential and the need to purchase it. Then recipients are directed to a site offering an investment program.

On it, users are told about a new, nonexistent project attributed to Pavel Durov, which allegedly allows ‘to earn millions from cutting-edge technologies’.

On the next page, potential victims are invited to send a certain amount of money in order to earn many times more in the future. On one of the pages identified by Kaspersky Lab experts, the promised profit amount reached 300,000 rubles.

In reality, deposits go to the scammers’ wallets. Users also risk exposing confidential data if they entered it on the site.

The scheme, its stages, and the content of the scam pages may vary. The information is sometimes reinforced with audio messages from a ‘successful entrepreneur’ or with testimonials from ‘program participants’.

“The attackers use several legends and social-engineering techniques to dull users’ vigilance: they send emails allegedly from the regulator, exploit a popular theme, refer to a well-known entrepreneur, and prey on the desire to quickly earn easy money,” said Kaspersky Lab.

Experts added that their solutions block more than 200,000 fraudulent cryptocurrency mailings daily.

Earlier, ForkLog reported a spike in attacks through social networks and messaging apps.