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Vladimir Myronenko
The FBI spoke on Thursday warningaddressed to fans of mobile and online “play to earn” games, about the fact that cybercriminals are now using fake rewards in them to steal cryptocurrency.
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Fraudsters lure users who have previously established a trusting relationship with them through lengthy online conversations to play specially crafted gaming applications with the promise of huge financial rewards that grow in proportion to the amount invested.
“Criminals connect with victims online and build relationships with them over time, the FBI said in a statement posted on the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) website. – ZThe perpetrators then enter the victims into an online game or mobile game in which the players are allegedly rewarded with cryptocurrencies in exchange for certain activities, such as growing “crops” on an animated farm.”
In order to participate in the game, victims are offered to buy cryptocurrency, for which it is necessary to register a crypto wallet. Users are told that the reward will be higher the more funds they keep in this wallet. But as soon as the victim stops adding funds to the wallet, it is immediately emptied.
The user is then promised that their savings can be returned if additional taxes or fees are paid. However, this is just a new trick, because even after paying additional fees, the victim is left with nothing.
As such, gamers are advised to be wary of game invites that promise super-high financial rewards – if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
The FBI has provided a number of tips to help users protect themselves from these types of scams:
- Those wishing to take part in cryptocurrency games are advised to create a unique wallet, which will protect their main reserves from access by scammers.
- It is recommended to use a third party blockchain explorer to check the balance in the game wallet.
- It is advisable to periodically use a third-party program to check which sites or applications the player has inadvertently allowed access to their wallet and revoke those permissions.
