The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has warned crypto users in the US about rising cases of impersonation scams, in which scammers impersonate federal officers to extort users. This new wave of scams adds to the lengths scammers go to part users from their crypto.
The CISA alerted users, stating, “Impersonation scams are on the rise and often use the names and titles of government employees. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is aware of recent impersonation scammers claiming to represent the agency. As a reminder, CISA staff will never contact you with a request to wire money, cash, cryptocurrency, or use gift cards and will never instruct you to keep the discussion secret.”
Impersonation scams have been used to part individuals from their value via fiat and gift coupons, too, but are catching up with crypto. It is impossible to reverse digital asset transactions once they occur, and scammers take full advantage of that, preying on unsuspecting users. The CISA asked users to refrain from paying impersonators, note their number down, hang up immediately, and contact the agency with the details.
Beyond asking them to transfer crypto, impersonators also take other routes to extract crypto from users. They can take the phishing approach or use drainers to move funds from users’ wallets. Phishing works by sending links that lead users to fabricated websites that look like the real deal. Think of the login pages of wallet services. Users are requested to enter their wallet details, including private key information, thus giving the scammers access to all the funds within user wallets.
Another method they use, growing in popularity, is directing users to drainers from Discord, Telegram, and other social media platforms housing crypto communities. Impersonators use their made-up authority to send users to drainer applications with the pretext of checking wallets for sanction checking and more. As users get to these applications and provide their wallet details, the drainer pulls out the funds held by their wallets.