As Telegram forges ahead with its groundbreaking integration of the TON blockchain and the introduction of its native Toncoin, scammers are not far behind, crafting sophisticated schemes to exploit enthusiastic adopters.
In a recent exposé, experts from Kaspersky, a prominent cybersecurity firm, shared alarming details with Cointelegraph about a burgeoning cryptocurrency scam. This nefarious scheme, operational since at least November 2023, coincides with the rising interest in Telegram’s blockchain project, aiming to siphon off Toncoin from users worldwide.
Scammers are enticing potential victims with an “exclusive earning program,” accessible via a link circulated among friends and contacts. They are ushered into an unofficial Telegram bot, posing as a secure storage solution for cryptocurrencies. This bot also prompts users to link their Web3 wallets, heightening the risk of theft.
The deceit doesn’t stop there. Victims are persuaded to purchase Toncoin through legitimate avenues, including the official Telegram bot and established cryptocurrency exchanges, lending a veneer of legitimacy to the proceedings. Once trust is established, victims are conned into buying so-called “boosters” from a separate bot—a pivotal step where they irretrievably lose their digital assets.
According to Kaspersky’s experts, “The costs of ‘boosters’—labeled by the scammers as ‘bike,’ ‘car,’ ‘train,’ ‘plane,’ or ‘rocket’—vary from 5 to 500 Toncoins.”
This scam drains users of sums ranging from $2 to $2,700, as they fall prey to a cleverly disguised pyramid scheme. In addition to purchasing boosters, victims are roped into a referral program necessitating the creation of private Telegram groups to propagate the scam further.
“The victims are provided a referral link, accompanied by video instructions in both Russian and English, requiring them to secure five successful referrals to begin earning,” details from the cybersecurity report reveal.
The promised returns are twofold: a fixed payment of 25 TON for each invited friend and a commission based on the booster level their referrals purchase. However, as Kaspersky’s analysts succinctly put it, “It turns out to be a classic pyramid scheme, in which each participant is a partner rather than a freeloader. Sadly, nobody profits except the scammers, and all ‘partners’ lose their investments.”
As the community awaits further updates for additional data on affected users and the total losses incurred, the situation underscores the critical need for vigilance in the rapidly evolving digital currency landscape.
