Scams are rife these days and scammers becoming ever more sophisticated. And unfortunately, the crypto sector is not spared by these shady individuals. In the latest, users of OKX have been targeted in efforts to relieve them of their hard-earned money, or coin, or meme coins (we really won’t judge you, promise).
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According to an announcement by the popular exchange, the fraudsters are using fake OKX Wallet plugins on the Firefox store. The company made it clear they currently do not have a Firefox plugin.
“Please note: OKX has not yet released any Firefox plugins.”
They advised that if you already engaged with the plugin, i.e. downloaded and installed and used it in any way, you should immediately transfer your assets out of the wallet.
Fake Firefox plugin
OKX says they have contacted Firefox for the removal of the malicious plugin. They stressed that it’s crucial to only download plugins through their official website, and report any suspicious products.
Scams on The Rise, Beware of New Tricks
And there are other scams pertaining to crypto wallets that have emerged of late. Cybersecurity and anti-virus OG, Kaspersky, recently highlighted a new scam where fraudsters post cryptowallet seed phrases in public forums, such as YouTube comments, to lure people into traps.
These posts typically mimic beginners asking for help and include a full seed phrase. A typical comment you may have come across often looks like this:
“I have a question. I have USDT stored in my wallet, and I have the seed phrase. How to transfer my funds to another wallet?”
How The Scammers Trap the Would-Be-Thief
After reading such a post, a user might check out the wallet only to discover a substantial amount of USDT in the wallet. Tempted to profit, they might attempt to transfer the funds.
Well, as every degen would know, you need TRX to pay a small transfer fee. As you probably guessed, there’s not enough TRX in that wallet. The user—or should I say, would-be thief—then transfers TRX from their own wallet, and voilà.
“The tokens they transferred immediately ended up in a completely different, third wallet.”
The crafty scammers set up these wallets as multi-signature wallets, which require more than one person’s authorisation to make transactions, thereby trapping the would-be thieves.
It might seem like common sense, but Kaspersky still advises against interacting with or using publicly shared seed phrases, as this is a common tactic to steal funds or perpetrate further scams.
Disclaimer
This article is provided for information only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
