Cybercriminals are now exploiting the very tools designed to fight cybercrime, tricking victims and draining their crypto wallets.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) found that scammers are using stolen personal information to submit false reports to Australia’s national cybercrime reporting tool, ReportCyber, and later use them as "proof" while trying to deceive their potential victims.
According to the AFP, criminals impersonate police officers and tell potential victims that they've been identified in a data breach related to cryptocurrency and finance. What's more, the scammers provide the victim with an official reference number of a report on the ReportCyber platform.
Next, a second caller, pretending to be a representative of crypto asset platform, joins the scheme and tries to convince the victim to send their funds from the platform they use to a “Cold Storage” account.
Criminals are also “spoofing” legitimate phone numbers.
"These cybercriminals step through a process to verify the target’s personal information which may match common expectations. What’s more, because they move quickly from making the report to calling the target, they can create a sense of urgency," AFP Detective Superintendent Marie Andersson said.
She also stressed that legitimate law enforcement officials will never ask for crypto accounts, wallets, bank accounts, crypto wallet seed phrases, or any personal information relating to financial accounts.
Meanwhile, in related news across the pond, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, together with the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the US Secret Service, announced the establishment of a Scam Center Strike Force.
It's been tasked with investigating, disrupting, and prosecuting "the most egregious Southeast Asian scam centers and their leaders, with a focus on Burma, Cambodia, and Laos."
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