To reach a specific community, scammers often act under the guise of well-known companies. In new malicious activity discovered by Kaspersky experts, the attackers were hidden behind technology company Nvidia.
These attackers launched a fraudulent website to commemorate the company’s 30th anniversary, which welcomed visitors to participate in a 50 000-bitcoin giveaway.
The scammers had made a mistake though, using the Nvidia logo in an incorrect violet colour, when it is originally green.
The page contains a “Participate” button which, once clicked, takes the visitor to a page with detailed information on the giveaway – it is, however, full of spelling errors, which is unacceptable for a reputable company such as Nvidia.
The page encourages potential victims to donate prior to entering the giveaway, and includes an image of Jensen Huang, the Nvidia CEO. Successful participants are told they can double their donation or even hit the “jackpot” of 50 000 bitcoins.
The page includes crypto wallet credentials for users to send their “donation”.
The scammers’ wallet can be checked on blockchain.com, however, and the total account balance is 0.42 BTC ($8 495) – far less than the 50 000 bitcoins advertised. It is unsure whether the amount in there has been formed by donations or not, but several transactions from unknown senders can be tracked in the account history.
“Crypto scams that involve images of celebrities, or power brands, become trendy these days,” comments Olga Svistunova, a security expert at Kaspersky. “We’ve witnessed campaigns with Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Pavel Durov.
“This time the attackers went further, launching fraudulent activity on behalf of Nvidia’s CEO and connecting it to a very special occasion for the company. Our primary advice is to carefully check all the links you follow while surfing the net, and avoid donating to untrustworthy initiatives.”