Crypto Scammers Targeting Indian, Nigerian Government Websites With MetaMask Phishing Links: Report

Many investors in the digital assets sector visit the website on a regular basis and hence, fake URLs could lead to their wallets being drained by scammers.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by Manas Mitul | Updated: 5 September 2023 16:57 IST

Crypto Scammers Targeting Indian, Nigerian Government Websites With MetaMask Phishing Links: Report

Photo Credit: Pexels/ Tima Miroshnichenko

Crypto investors have lost up to $4 million by engaging with hoax links

Highlights

MetaMask has not addressed the situation yet
Government sites of Brazil, Egypt, Colombia also infected
Microsoft does show a ‘phishing alert’ message which mustn't be bypassed

Crypto scammers are reportedly using official government websites from different countries to redirect potential victims to scam MetaMask sites. Government sites from India, Nigeria, Egypt, Colombia, Brazil, Vietnam, and other countries are being targeted by these crypto scammers. MetaMask is an Ethereum-based crypto wallet, popular among global crypto community members. Many investors in the digital assets sector visit the website on a regular basis and hence, fake URLs could lead to their wallets being drained by scammers.

People who find themselves on these government links are taken to a ‘phishy' link called ‘MetaMask.io,' a CoinTelegraph report said, citing the results of an internal investigation. The websites of the Nigerian Postal Service and the Municipal Corporation of Ambala are amongst those that are redirecting visitors to the fake MetaMask website.

Microsoft's built-in security system, Microsoft Defender, does show a red alert, warning users about a potential phishing attempt. In case users proceed to the website anyway, they could find themselves in financial trouble.

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MetaMask has not addressed the situation yet. Meanwhile, screenshots of these infected government links have surfaced on social media.

New post (MetaMask scammers take over government websites to target crypto investors) has been published on Forex Trader Hub - https://t.co/jeBFOGDebE pic.twitter.com/nMDYkOALFF
— ForexTraderHub (@ForexTraderHub) September 5, 2023

The incident comes at a time when India is gearing up to host the two-day long G20 summit in New Delhi starting September 9. As part of its ongoing G20 presidency, India has spearheaded the task of drafting crypto rules that would work on an international level.

Regular instances of scams plaguing the digital assets sector, plus the misuse of cryptocurrencies for crimes like money laundering and terror financing, have been major concerns for governments around the world, obstructing rapid growth rate for Web3.

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In recent months, crypto investors have lost up to $4 million (roughly Rs. 33.2 crore) by engaging with hoax links, sprawled all over the Web, ScamSniffer said in a recent report.

Scammers are also targeting Google Search results, preying on people's tendencies to interact with advertisements on Google. Cyber criminals are purchasing advertisements for real sites on Google. When potential victims engage with the links, they are sent to ‘kochava.com', which is an ad network that later redirects people to fabricated scam websites.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, India, Nigeria, Egypt, Colombia, Brazil, Vietnam, Crypto Scam

Radhika Parashar

Email Radhika

Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More