It has emerged that investors from the defunct Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange platform are being targeted by fraudsters, pretending to represent a new exchange company that has launched to help with the recovery of lost bitcoin sums. According to Bitcoin news, the anomaly was first discovered by the Internet security firm Cyren, announcing it as a phishing campaign tailored for those who traded on the site before it went down.
Back in 2014, Mt. Gox fell without prior warning to its users. It claimed that the company’s overall virtual currency stock and trade funds were stolen. According to bitcoin news, it was estimated that cyber criminals had stolen 650,000 BTC.
Most of these new spam messages are coming from Kraken exchange, which is spearheading the process of repaying those who had been affected by the Mt. Gox debacle.
As per bitcoin news, the victims are redirected to an open Google Docs page, where they can allegedly check the progress of their claims, but instead, they end up receiving a W32/Trojan5.NRB Windows Trojan, which cracks down their online wallets, and steals content. The hackers send out emails claiming to host updates on the status of victims’ coinage recovery claims, but with a hidden nefarious intent.
After the bitcoin exchange platform’s downfall, a Japanese insolvency court determined in April 2014 that it would be hard for the company to recover after the loss of thousands of bitcoins worth approximately $500 million. According to bitcoin news, Mt. Gox had filed a Chapter 15 bankruptcy case in Tokyo, and later on in America. It started official liquidation of its possessions after the April magistrate ruling.
However, certain aspects of the story still didn’t add up. Even after submitting the firm to bankruptcy proceedings in both US and Japan, according to Bitcoin news, the company’s previous CEO Mark Karpeles is currently being investigated for fraud and embezzlement cases. About two years later, the new platform by Kraken and fellow trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi was expected to help investors recover some of their missing cryptocurrency. However, the phishing campaign is threatening to put this project in jeopardy as well. Based on Bitcoin news, the malware has been designed in such a way that upon clicking, it downloads itself onto your computer, executes and scans for local BTC wallets linked to the individual’s PC. If any digital currency stores are detected, the malware automatically plunders cache and redirects proceeds to the hackers.
It’s not yet clear how many people have been affected, but the chances are high that the details of Mt. Gox victims might have been retrieved from settlement files being used by Kraken. Though we live in a world where even hospitals can be held ransom for BTC payments, this new phishing development has taken a new low considering that the victims had already been scammed before. However, there are also chances that another third party is impersonating the bitcoin firm Kraken.
Comments (No)