Last year was hugely profitable for crypto investors. The two big players in the crypto sphere, Bitcoin and Ethereum, grew by 59.8% and 399.2% respectively — while some of the smaller cryptocurrencies such as Solana saw returns of well over 11,000%. The bad news is that it was also a profitable year for crypto scammers: a record $14 billion, to be precise.

For the investors out there, it’s important to keep tabs on the scammers’ activities. With that in mind, the following are what we’ve found this week.

PancakeSwap

Scammers have been impersonating the legitimate trading platform, PancakeSwap, known in the crypto sphere as a decentralized exchange (DEX). Recently, fake crypto giveaways are also being used to entice customers to click on malicious links. The links will lead to fake log-in and recovery pages where your personal information will be compromised. Be wary of messages that read like the following:

“crypto giveaway: claim free 45 cake on your pancakeswap wallet! claim your giveaway via the link below and : hxxps://pancakewsap[.]sld[.]do/”

WalletConnect

Scammers are also impersonating the crypto wallet platform, WalletConnect. Users have reported receiving SMS and email messages that claim there is some account-related issue – the links in the message will lead to fake phishing pages. As above, these are generally fake log-in and recovery pages — where your personal information will be compromised.

SMS template:
“wallet secured alert: immediate action required. please review recent account activity. click the link to web: hxxps://activationaccess[.]netlify[.]app/”

Trust Wallet

Trust Wallet is a popular platform much like WalletConnect. Unsurprisingly, scammers are always using this disguise for their activities. Users are receiving email messages that claim there is some account-related issue – KYC verification in this example. The links included will lead to fake phishing pages where your personal information will be compromised.

Email text:
“Your account is not yet KYC verified
It came to our attention that you didn’t agreed with the new KYC Registration Agreement. All unverified accounts with their assets will be frozen on: Sunday 8 May 2022. After this date, all the wallet(s) associated with this Registrant smart contract will be temporary suspended until your account is properly verified.
Important notice: It is not possible to send or trade any assets/tokens during this time. You can still receive new assets during this period. With the below displayed secure connection you can verify your account and agree to the Registration Agreement.
Start KYC verification
Once you complete the process, your account will be instantly KYC verified and there is no further action required by you.
With kind regards,
Trust Wallet Community

A final note for our readers: notice the many typos and bizarre wording in these template messages — legitimate companies do not communicate like this.

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Trend Micro Check is a browser extension and mobile app for detecting scams, phishing attacks, malware, and dangerous links — and it’s FREE!

Check out this page for more information on Trend Micro Check.

For smartphones (where much crypto trading takes place) we’d recommend Trend Micro Mobile Security. Its cloud-based Smart Protection Network™ and Mobile App Reputation technology will stop threats before they even reach you.

If you’d like to read more, you can visit our dedicated cryptocurrency news page. Finally, if you’ve found this article to be a helpful and/or interesting read, please do SHARE with friends and family to help keep the online community secure and protected.