Had an unexpected WhatsApp message lately? Or any random social media contact?
It’s probably pitched as a chance encounter, a ‘Sliding Doors’ moment on WhatsApp or some other messaging service.
“Is that you [insert random name]?” Or, “Hi are you the tour guide?” or even a cheeky “Who is this? Why is your number in my phone?”.
It has an air of casual mystery and a hint of romance. Where will it lead?
Probably to a scam that leaves you poorer.
They’re bogus accounts of course, and the approach is old school for romance scammers. However, the new twist catching out a younger audience is adding crypto into the mix.
“There’s a lot of buzz around investments and making money quite quickly and when it comes to the younger generation things like Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies they’re all the rage,” says analyst Aaron Bugal from cybersecurity firm Sophos.
“Typically the type of people that fall for these attacks, they’re looking for love, so their Spidey-senses are depleted, they’re a little bit more open to engage.”
Bugal says the online nature of the scam can leads some to think they may be safe taking risks that they wouldn’t entertain IRL.
“They think that if something goes wrong there’s a magical undo button that can just reverse all the ill effects of whatever they did online.”
Sophisticated software
Sophos has labelled the ruse ‘CryptoRom’ and there is some sophisticated software hacking to support the age-old sweetheart swindle scams.
It has found scammers are exploiting a…
