Kaspersky Reveals Phishing Campaign Targeting Hot And Cold Crypto Wallets

Examples of fake Ripple blogs (photo: Kaspersky)

JAKARTA - Along with the growing trend of crypto assets, Kaspersky has discovered a phishing campaign targeting crypto users around the world, with increasingly diverse tactics.

During the spring alone in 2023, Kaspersky admitted to having succeeded in detecting and thwarting more than 85,000 fraudulent emails, which included hot and cold wallets.

Phishing targets a hot crypto wallet

According to the cybersecurity firm, phishing attacks aimed at hot crypto wallet users usually use relatively simple tactics, in which malicious actors disguise themselves as famous crypto exchanges via fraudulent emails, and urge users to validate transactions or reconfirm the security of their wallets.

The victim then clicked on the link directed to a fake webpage and asked them to enter their seed phase, an important element for wallet recovery. By gaining access to the initial phrase, scammers can control the victim's wallet and transfer funds to their own account.

Phishing targets a cold crypto wallet

Di sisi lain, peneliti Kaspersky juga menemukan kampanye phishing bertarget yang dirancang khusus untuk mengeksmi pemilik cold crypto wallets atau sistem penyimpanan offline, yang dimulai dengan email yang mameran sebagai pertukahan aset kripto terketama, Ripple. Kemudian mengayakan penerima dengan janji untuk berkontribusikan token XRP.

Instead of directing the victim to a phishing page, the fraudster uses more advanced techniques by creating fraudulent blog posts that mimic the design of the Ripple website. The blog offers users the opportunity to follow the giveaway token XRP, the internal crypto asset platform, by following the specified link.

After following a link to a fake Ripple page using a domain name very similar to the official Ripple domain, the victim was asked to connect their hardware wallet, to the scam site. This interaction then allows the fraudster to gain access to the victim's account and commit fraudulent transactions.