DeutschAn international Bitcoin scam was uncovered by the British newspaper “The Guardian“. The multi-million dollar Bitcoin fraud was carried out using unauthorized celebrity photos and primarily targeted victims in Australia. Victims were “lured” in with fake photos of Australian celebrities.
Fraudulent crypto investment schemes promoted
Unauthorized photos of well-known celebrities were used to advertise a fake investment scheme. For example, in Australia—the most affected country—photos of Dick Smith or Andrew Forrest were misused.
After victims clicked on such an ad, they were taken to a link for a supposed cryptocurrency investment program. After registering, victims were initially asked over the phone to make a small investment. The amount increased with every call, leading some victims to lose their entire savings.
Bitcoin fraud: The trail leads to Moscow and Ukraine
According to the report by The Guardian—the news portal that accidentally ran some of these ads itself—the trail of the major Bitcoin ad fraud leads to the center of Moscow. Hundreds of fake websites have been linked to the scam. Two of the email addresses were linked to Gmail accounts, prompting Google to launch an investigation.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) also discovered a connection to Ukraine. A call center in Kyiv with about 200 employees operated a similar system, primarily targeting victims in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. Fake news articles featuring celebrities like Gordon Ramsay or Hugh Jackman were used.
Bitcoin ads widely distributed
Since various Bitcoin ad scams have been running on news websites for years, fraudulent ads have become widespread. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was also a significant increase in clicks on these ads as many people stayed home and spent more time online. The scale of distribution is now so high that Facebook and Google can barely keep up with deleting such ads.
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