Crypto scammers are going all out this year, using AI deepfakes to rip off investors left and right. Gen Digital, the company behind Norton, Avast, and Avira, says scammers upped their game in the second quarter of 2024.
They’ve been using deepfake videos to fool people into thinking they’re investing in real crypto projects. The crooks, who go by “CryptoCore,” have gotten pretty good at it too.
They take legit videos of big names like Elon Musk, Vitalik Buterin, Michael Saylor, and Larry Fink and then swap out the audio with AI-generated voices to make it sound like these guys are endorsing their scams.
These fake videos are popping up all over social media—YouTube, what used to be Twitter, TikTok—you name it. The scammers hack into popular accounts with tons of followers just to spread their fake livestreams. And it’s working. In the last quarter alone, they managed to steal $5 million worth of crypto.
Gen Digital’s chief tech guy, Siggi Stefnisson, says these scammers are getting more creative. In his own words:
“They’re using what’s already on people’s minds—stuff like elections, love, or money problems. With AI and other new tech, their scams are more convincing than ever. People need to stay sharp.”
In June, during SpaceX’s integrated flight test, about 50 YouTube accounts got hacked. From those accounts alone, scammers pulled off 500 shady transactions, stealing $1.4 million.
But deepfakes aren’t the only trick up their sleeve. Bitcoin ATM scams are also on the rise, especially in the U.S. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), these scams have exploded over the last few years.
Losses from Bitcoin ATMs jumped from $12 million in 2020 to a staggering $66 million in just the first half of 2024. That’s nearly a tenfold increase.
The FTC report shows that these scammers are really targeting older folks, too. People over 60 are getting hit the hardest, losing way more money than younger victims. The average loss reported is about $10,000, which is a lot of money for anyone, but it hits seniors even harder.
So, how are these scammers getting people to cough up their cash? They usually start with some sneaky phone call, text, or pop-up message, pretending to be from a legit business or government agency.
They scare people with urgent threats, saying their accounts are compromised or tied to illegal activity. Then, they tell victims to withdraw cash and deposit it into a Bitcoin ATM, using a QR code that directs the funds straight into the scammer’s wallet.
The scammers have a whole playbook of tactics, from fake tech support calls to pretending to be government investigators. They make it sound like you need to act fast to protect your money, which is how they reel people in.
