Avoid deep scams that use FTX’s bankruptcy to scam you on Twitter
The deep fraud of Sam Bankman-Fried, the ousted head of the FTX, has spread on Twitter. The video promised that victims of the crypto platform’s bankruptcy could receive money as compensation.
” As you know, our FTX exchange has gone bankrupt. What we see in the video is an almost playful Sam Bankman-Fried. The former head of the Federal Tax Service, who was at the center of the scandal and blamed by many for causing the bankruptcy, continues: all users “because it’s necessary” don’t panic “. ” To compensate for the losses, we have prepared gifts and you can double your cryptocurrencies “, he says.
Although the video is real, it is not true: a deeply fake. The video, discovered by Vice on November 21, 2022, was shared on Twitter at least a few hours before it was taken down and highlights the dangers faced by users of the social network.
Classic crypto scam
The profound frauds is increasingly used to confuse internet users. These are videos created by artificial intelligence that reflect the appearance and sometimes the voice of a person. These videos are used for more nefarious purposes: influence operations, such as the Ukrainian president calling on his troops to lay down their arms; or creating pornographic content from the faces of certain women.
The purpose of the Sam Bankman-Fried video was to trick people into withdrawing their money. The video was linked to “ftxcompensation.com”, which has since been taken offline. According to Vice, who first saw the deepfake and was able to access the site, the latter promised visitors that they would double their stake in cryptocurrency.
On the site’s home page, which features a large FTX logo and a portrait of Sam Bankman-Fried, it says, ” $100,000,000 in cryptocurrency. For this, users had to send the desired amount to the crypto address and “ after receiving the amount “, the site promised” return double the operation “. This is a very common crypto scam: once the money is sent to the address, users cannot get their money back, and of course, they never get what they were promised.
According to Vice, which was able to verify the address listed on the site, the equivalent of $1,000 was purchased in Ether, the cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain. Therefore, it appears that the scammer has already claimed one or more victims before being removed.
The FTX scheme worked thanks to Twitter
The success of the scam is largely attributed to Twitter: the account that shared the video deeply fake Twitter Blue received the certificate by paying the subscription fee. Thanks to the verification token provided by the subscription, the fraudster was able to impersonate Sam Bankman-Fried and use the same Twitter profile picture as the real founder.
This is one of the main problems created by Elon Musk’s new Twitter: from November 9, paying Twitter subscribers automatically receive a certificate badge without verifying their identity. What used to be proof of authenticity is now hijacked by pranksters, some of whom cause companies to lose a lot of money. But that’s not all: the subscription also entitles you to better visibility: tweets and replies are more promoted and therefore more visible. feeds Twitter users. For scammers, this is the perfect cocktail to ensure the success of their scam.
between technology profound frauds and certificate available to anyone on Twitter, this type of scam is likely to multiply: Sam Bankman-Fried’s video is undoubtedly just the first of a long list of scams using this technique.
