Category: Cyber Currency

Stupidest Scam of the Week Free Cyber Currency

Some time ago there was a scam prevalent on social media which promised to double your money – you simply send Bitcoin to a specified ID and they would return twice the amount to you.

As unbelievably stupid as this sounds – thousands of people did reply and sent money to a stranger expecting to get twice as much back.

The only thing they got a was a shock that it was a scam and this scam circulated for months before disappearing.

It has re-emerged but in email form this time.

The title of the email is “You have received 2700 XLM in your wallet”

XLM is the name a currency run by the Stellar Network and uses Lumens as the name of the coins. It is a competitor to Bitcoin.

The message then explains that you should send $100 worth of Bitcoin to a specific ID and in return you will receive $400 worth of XLM which gives you an instant profit of $300.

Obviously no-one gives away lots of money and it’s a simple scam but sadly some people’s greed and stupidity will lead them to a harsh lesson.

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Domain Name Theft

Your Internet domain name e.g. mybusiness.co.uk can be very valuable and a key part of your business. Without it, online customers won’t be able to find your website or may be redirected without their knowledge to a copycat site.

You may think it’s impossible for someone to take your domain name but it does happen and the scammers are clever in how they do it, leaving you with the difficult task of proving you are the rightful owner.

For a hacker to take your domain name, there are two basic methods:-

  1. They change your DNS configuration, to redirect traffic from your site to their site
  2. They modify your registration contact information, which gives them full control over your domain

A hacker can also change the registration data in the WHOIS database. This then makes it difficult for you to prove that you are the rightful owner. If they have control, then the hacker may also move the domain registration to another registrar which makes it more difficult to get your domain name back.

Q. How Can Hackers Access Your Domain Account?

The most common method is through a phishing attack. They send you emails that look to be from some official body, such as the domain registrar and get you to click a link to their fake website page and use your login and password thus giving them your login credentials.

Alternatively they get your login credentials from a data breach or simply buy the information from another hacker who has employed phishing attacks etc.

Protecting Your Domain

Prevention is the key, rather than planning what to do in the event of such a problem.

Ensure a strong password and that only you know the password for domain control, guard against phishing attacks and anything out of the ordinary regarding your domain.  The most effective control is domain locking.

Domain Locking

You can ‘lock’ your domain, which means that changes will not be allowed unless you ‘unlock’ the domain.  Your domain registrar will do this for you and it’s normally a free service.

Domain locking also stops unauthorised transfer of your domain name to another registrar.

Keep your domain name safe.

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Binance Crypto Exchange Hacked

BINANCE is one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges I.e. an exchange for online currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple etc. .  Hackers patiently built up information and hacked into the services and stole stole 7,000 bitcoin (about $40 million) — but also stole user security codes (two-factor authentication codes and API tokens) which can lead to further thefts.

Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng said “The hackers used a variety of techniques, including phishing, viruses and other attacks”.  “The hackers had the patience to wait, and execute well-orchestrated actions through multiple seemingly independent accounts at the most opportune time. The transaction was structured in a way that passed our existing security checks.”

Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng said “The hackers used a variety of techniques, including phishing, viruses and other attacks”.  “The hackers had the patience to wait, and execute well-orchestrated actions through multiple seemingly independent accounts at the most opportune time. The transaction was structured in a way that passed our existing security checks.”

The  hackers compromised multiple high-net-worth accounts, whose Bitcoin was kept in Binance’s hot wallet—which, unlike cold wallets, are connected to the internet. Anyone who keeps their Bitcoin in a Binance hot wallet should change that immediately.

The hackers got access to security codes for some users and that means they may still control certain user accounts and may use those to influence prices. Binance say they will monitor the situation closely.

Cyber currencies still seem a little like the Wild West and are taking a long time to become mainstream and become as safe as mainstream currency.

If you have any experiences with crypto-currencies do let me know, by email.

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Crypto Currency Scams

Crypto Currencies are the new Internet currencies. They aren’t created by governments or banks but by new organisations seeking to develop (or benefit from) new possibilities in currency transactions and investments.

There are lots of these new currencies but the biggest and most famous by far is Bitcoin.

 

You can see that the value of Bitcoin started at near zero and reached over $2,000 in 2017.

The first ever Bitcoin transaction was the purchase of 2 pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins.

The price has always been extremely volatile and having reached an all-time high of over $20,000 it crashed to less than $4,000 by the end of 2018.

Scammers usually offer one of the following:-

  1. A guaranteed way to make money betting on the Bitcoin price
  2. Automated “scientific” methods for gambling on Bitcoins e.g. using artificial intelligence
  3. A way to invest in Bitcoin that guarantees you will make lots of money
  4. Bitcoin vending machines
  5. Fake Bitcoin accounts opened in your name

These deals are also offered for other crypto currencies but most people have only heard of Bitcoin so the scammers focus on that one. Plus, there are lots of stories of people who invested a little in Bitcoins and are now millionaires. Some of these are true but as with any form of gambling or investing – past results do not tell you what will happen in the future.

Anyone who invested in Bitcoin in early January 2018 had lost 85% of their money by that Christmas.

The scammers don’t care of course as they only care about themselves and how much money they can steal from people.

Most of the scams are entirely fake – there is no Bitcoin investment or anything else of value and the ones that do actually lead to investment in Bitcoins are usually so highly leveraged as to make it impossible for anyone to benefit except for the scammers.

If you want to invest or deal in Bitcoins or any other cyber currency – take professional advice and be aware that you could easily lose everything.

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Is Perfect Money Safe?

Perfect Money says Welcome to a new generation of Internet Payment System!

It is owned by Perfect Money Finance Corporation, is registered in Panama and has headquarters in Switzerland.

Perfect Money allows users to make instant payments and to make money transfers securely throughout the Internet.

The Perfect Money payment system one can do the following:

  • Perform money transfers between members
  • Make regular payments via the Internet
  • Safely store money funds on electronic account and get monthly interest
  • Make payment for goods and services in Internet shops
  • Buy Bitcoin, Gold, USD and EUR currency online

They claim to have the lowest fees on the market.

Customer Reviews

Perfect Money payment say they aspire to offer customers the perfect service, but the DFID website has lots of comments about Perfect Money and many are not so positive:-

https://www.dfid.org/payment-options/perfectmoney

E.g. 1

I sent money (a lot) using bank wire transfer, but it doesn’t appeared in my perfect money account after 8days! They say it takes up to 5business days but it’s already 8days and I started to worry about my money. They never replied my email so I can’t do anything! They just stole my money that I’ve been saving for 1 year! Be careful about their system!

E.g. 2

They are scammers. They steal your personal data. They have so called “verification” and promise that you’ll pay less fees after you did it. So, I sent them my passport, it was OK. I sent them my company details. It is also OK. Now I sent them utility bill to verify address. They claim that it is fake even it is OK. They ask to send something else. I send my governemnt issued ID with legal address. They say it is also not OK. I sent more. I sent them 6 different documents, and they didn’t accept anyone. I sent the same scans to Neteller, WebMoney and even to banks, and documents were OK, just PerfectMoney found that they are fake. So, at last verification step they deny to verify you and decrease fees and cheat you, so you send them more and more documents. I am thinking now where in darknet will they sell these documents. Don’t work with these scammers.

E.g. 3

I recently had a terible experance with perfectmoney.is. They have the worst customer support with auto replies and never fully answers what you ask them. They truly give you a headach and not relaible so how would someone trust them with their money. They verified my Passport, but refused to verify my account and never read all my explanations. Basically, i submitted a government address certificate since its the common way to verify an address in our country, and the utility bill are in Arabic and have meter code number and not the address. I tried to explain that to them many times but they kept replying with an auto reply they have. I gave up and asked them to delete the account that i haven’t used so they wont keep my passport with them, but they refused for “security concerns”. I told them i don’t care about the account, but asked them to remove my passport form their data since i won’t be using their services and they ignored me. Why would they want to keep my passport and not verify the account??? Worst website ever and I don’t suggest anyone to deal with unprofessional support like them.

Perfect Money – Perfect or Imperfect?

It may be that Perfect Money provide a very cheap service and may do what you want, but it seems they may struggle on the customer service side and people suggest they find any excuse not to verify your account, so they can keep on charging the much higher fees for an unverified account.

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