London Police Thwart 43 Crypto Phishing Sites in Ongoing Crackdown

City of London Police Commissioner Pete O'Doherty reveals discovery of a fraudulent address mimicking blockchain.com.

In the latest move to combat cybercrime, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), a specialized UK police unit, has successfully blocked 43 web domains associated with fraudulent activities.

An update from City of London Police Commissioner Pete O'Doherty disclosed that the NFIB identified a deceptive email address masquerading as the popular crypto platform blockchain.com. Subsequently, the authorities uncovered an additional 42 suspicious web domains, including addresses like "actionfraud.info" and "department-fraud.com." Immediate action was taken to block these domains upon discovery.

Encouraging victims of cybercrimes to report incidents through official channels and hotlines, the NFIB shared that, as of December 2023, nearly 300,000 malicious websites had been removed based on user reports. Notably, some phishing attempts featured deceptive tactics, such as false claims of winning a Tupperware set.

Phishing remains a pervasive concern within the crypto community. On January 20, hardware wallet manufacturer Trezor reported a security breach affecting 66,000 users, leading to phishing emails targeting at least 41 users for sensitive information related to their crypto wallets.

A broader phishing campaign, identified on January 23, inundated the email inboxes of numerous crypto investors. In this incident, fraudsters posed as representatives from major Web3 companies, promoting fake token airdrops. The deceptive emails claimed association with well-known entities like Cointelegraph, WalletConnect, and Token Terminal.

Investigations later revealed that the phishing attack was orchestrated following a breach at email marketing firm MailerLite. The breach, occurring on January 24, saw hackers gaining control over Web3 accounts through a social engineering attack. A MailerLite team member inadvertently provided access by clicking on a link that redirected to a fraudulent Google sign-in page.

The attackers' primary wallet, identified by blockchain analytics firm Nansen, showed total inflows of at least $3.3 million since the cyberattack. The incident underscores the persistent need for vigilance and enhanced security measures within the cryptocurrency space.

(Photo Source / Blockonome)