Cryptocurrency is now an accepted currency across the world and is increasing in popularity with investors and traders alike. With its high volatility and the associated risks of cryptocurrency, there is a chance for investors to make large sums of money as well as lose substantial figures too. As with any area whereby large sums are involved, we have seen a rise in attempts to trick owners of cryptocurrency into thinking they are dealing with a legitimate crypto wallet provider.
Who's being targeted, and why?
For those who don’t know, a cryptocurrency exchange can only take place within a crypto wallet, and it is this area that the attempted attacks are being targeted. Within the cryptocurrency market, including mfg clients, owners of the currency are being targeting by phishing emails whereby fraudsters are posing as reputable cryptocurrency providers or the legal teams of such providers and asking individuals to send money to certain bank accounts in exchange of a release of cash or sale of the cryptocurrency.
Having reviewed one such phishing letter, it is easy to see why individuals would mistake the phishing email/letter for the genuine thing. The letter I was party to purported to be from a legitimate solicitor and could quote the correct amount of cryptocurrency the client held. This is information that would make an individual trust the correspondence from the outset. However, there were some elements to the correspondence that was questionable and that people should be aware of ahead of receiving any potential phishing emails/letter.
How to spot a phishing scam
Firstly, the sender has set a short deadline for the transaction of sending money to enact the transaction. The short timeframe applies unnecessary pressure to the reader and can cause them to not think straight. This is a classic phishing tactic. Furthermore, having to send money to a third party out of the blue should also alert people as to a scam immediately.
Secondly, there were no contact details for the sender. Although it was apparently a legitimate solicitor within the UK, the contact details for the individual were missing. This is yet another classic sign of a phishing scam.
Finally the letter contained slight grammatical errors and also contained punctuation within the body of the text. This would not be apparent in correspondence of this type and so we were able to ascertain that this was a phishing scam attempt and our client avoided any upset on this occasion.
However, it is always worth considering if correspondence is genuine or not, especially when the sending of money is involved. Ideally, if you thing the correspondence could be genuine, contact the company that would be sending such email/letter and ask them to confirm if the item is genuine or not.
Get in Touch
For more detailed advice and guidance on cryptocurrency scams posing as legitimate correspondence from Solicitors, please contact Matthew Allen on 01562 820181 or by email at matthew.allen@mfgsolicitors.com.
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