It has recently been revealed that SlowMist partner’s imToken has identified a new cryptocurrency scam. This specific scam, which is committed during offline transaction, often involves payment in USDT as the currency of choice. The novelty of this scheme is that it consists of cheating the aforementioned offline users into believing they have received the payment after using the scammer’s manipulated Ethereum node Remote Procedure Calls.
Cryptocurrency Scammers Exploit Authentic Wallet Downloads
In detail, the scam generally unfolds in the following manner: initially, the perpetrator persuades the victim to download the authentic imToken wallet, as an act of good faith. After the victim completes this step, the scammer sends them 1 USDT and a fraction of ETH to the wallet as a transaction from the fraudulent node to the genuine node. Armed with evidence of a successful transaction, the victim feels that dealing with the scammer is legitimate. At that point, the scammer directs them to switch their ETH RPC URLs to redirect to a false node.
Therefore, the simulated node effectively doubles the user’s USDT balance, creating a fully planted picture of an increased deposit. However, when the user is ready to make a withdrawal, the bitter truth is revealed. This is nothing more than a hoax as the McCraney had never genuinely delivered the funds for the deposit.
SlowMist’s MistTrack Tool Exposes Extent of Cryptocurrency Scam Transactions
The scammer himself disappears and stops any further communication with the user in any suitable communication channel. However, the scam is highly hidden in the format of balance manipulation, as Fork can not only alter already provided balance values, but it can also change contract information, underlining the threat of this deceit for an unsuspecting user.
Meanwhile, it is necessary to comprehend the idea of Remote Procedure Calls to understand the method of the scam. RPC helps a user communicate with a blockchain platform, check the balance or choose an option to send a specific amount of cryptocurrency, and eliminate the potential usage of such malicious modifications and SQL injections as malicious balance or transaction distortion.
Ultimately, MistTrack tool by SlowMist showed multiple transactions of USDT and ETH complementary to the scam from the victim’s wallet inquiry. This information emphasizes the endless expansion and multiplication of the scam among unsuspecting users.
