The current state of the cryptocurrency market is far from favorable. It has been marred by a significant crash triggered by the legal actions taken against Binance and Coinbase by the SEC. Adding to this predicament, a massive scam involving over 1,000 fraudulent websites used for investment purposes has been uncovered.
Following the announcement of a corralito (restriction on withdrawals) in the US by Binance and the ongoing SEC investigation into Coinbase’s alleged unauthorized earnings of billions of dollars, another detrimental development threatens to further undermine the cryptocurrency landscape. Trend Micro, a leading cybersecurity software company, has recently exposed a mega crypto scam involving more than a thousand websites.
Fraudulent cryptocurrency pages
Trend Micro’s team of cybersecurity experts has successfully exposed a sophisticated cryptocurrency scam involving a network of over 1,000 websites. These websites were operated by various affiliates and all connected to a program known as the Impulse Project.
Unfortunately, this is not the first instance where cybercriminals have exploited the cryptocurrency market for malicious purposes, taking advantage of unsuspecting individuals. The cybersecurity team at Trend Micro even suggests that this may be “one of the largest cryptocurrency scam campaigns in history.”
The scam operates by deceiving victims into believing that they have made substantial crypto earnings, when in reality, they have not gained anything. The perpetrators then request a small fee from these individuals to open an account on one of the fraudulent websites. However, as expected, once the payment is made, victims receive nothing in return.
One of the initial websites discovered through a private message on Twitter was varbytrade[.]com. Further investigations revealed similar domain names associated with these fraudulent activities.
- Harbytrade[.]com
- jarbytrade[.]com
- Karbytrade[.]com
- Narbytrade[.]com
- parbytrade[.]com
- Sarbytrade[.]com
All of these websites share not only remarkably similar domain names but also nearly identical names and logos, albeit with slight variations. It is evident that they are registered by the same individuals. In terms of the content they provide, it is essentially indistinguishable across all these fraudulent websites.
The Impulse Team Scam
The investigation into this crypto scam commenced in January 2021 and concluded in May 2023. Throughout this period, the dedicated team at Trend Micro diligently unraveled over a thousand websites implicated in the fraudulent scheme.
One of the reasons individuals fall victim to these scams is due to the deceptively authentic appearance of the websites. At first glance, they seem entirely legitimate, complete with sections displaying real-time cryptocurrency prices. However, this is all part of the ruse to entice unsuspecting victims.
All of these websites are associated with the Impulse Project, an affiliate program that has been actively promoted across various Russian cybercriminal forums for several years. It is not a recent development but has been operating clandestinely for some time.
According to the cybersecurity experts at Trend Micro, the Impulse Team employs manipulative bots to generate fabricated figures. This strategy aims to lure more affiliates and create an illusion of substantial profits within a short period. In reality, the opposite is true, and participants are left disappointed.