News Updates November 24, 2022
1. Bitcoin (BTC) briefly jumped about 1% after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s November meeting showed that the majority of central bankers prefer a slower pace of rate hikes going forward.
“A substantial majority of participants judged that a slowing in the pace of increase would likely soon be appropriate,” the minutes stated. “The uncertain lags and magnitudes associated with the effects of monetary policy actions on economic activity and inflation were among the reasons cited regarding why such an assessment was important.”
Bitcoin rose from $16,448 to $16,565 after the report was released at 2 p.m. ET but the bigger chunk of those gains was quickly retracted. As of press time, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap was changing hands around $16,429.
Members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided to raise interest rates by 75 basis points, or a 0.75 percentage point, in November – the fourth rate hike of this magnitude – but Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference after the decision that a slower pace would be appropriate soon.
Traders in futures contracts on federal funds on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) now see an 75% chance that the Fed will move ahead with a 50 basis point hike at the next meeting on Dec. 13-14, and a 25 basis point increase at the first two meetings in 2023.
2. UK’s 'biggest ever' scam leads to 100 arrests after police track bitcoin records.
More than 100 people were arrested in what the London’s Metropolitan Police calls “the UK’s biggest ever fraud operation” after taking down a fraud website called iSpoof used on 200,000 potential victims in Britain alone.
iSpoof allowed scammers to pose as officials from banks such as Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Lloyds, Halifax, First Direct, Natwest, Nationwide and TSB. Criminals paid for the service in bitcoin, according to the police report.
Scotland Yard’s Cyber Crime Unit worked in cross-national cooperation, including authorities in the U.S. and Ukraine, to take down the site this week. In a 20-month period, the Met police claims the operation earned the criminals almost £3.2 million ($3.9 million).
The Cyber Crime Unit began investigating iSpoof in June 2021, and were able to trace bitcoin records. With almost 60,000 users on iSpoof, the investigation team narrowed suspects down to UK users who spent at least £100 worth of bitcoin on the site.
“The exploitation of technology by organized criminals is one of the greatest challenges for law enforcement in the 21st century,” said Commissioner Mark Rowley in the police statement.
The UK arrests may be followed up in other countries as a list of suspects was handed over to authorities in the Netherlands, Australia, France and Ireland.
3. Fake crypto awards on the rise during football world cup.
Global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has warned against fraudsters taking advantage of football fans during the ongoing FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Kaspersky said in its research that tricksters bet on matches with fraudulent crypto awards or non-fungible token (NFT) artwork, while phishing sites try to dig out user data.
“Fake tickets are the bait most used to lure victims. Qatar 2022 is only offering digital tickets, increasing the risk of running into malicious resources,” Kaspersky research pointed out.
“Users of these sites will lose personal data, banking details, and money,” the report added.
Users are asked to enter crypto wallet details for prize transfers, while scammers gain access to all their savings and wallet data.
Scammers have also been using the world cup tournament to steal user data through fake merchandise, like fake t-shirts and signed footballs by popular players, the report said.
Football is the most popular sport among crypto investors, with about 70% of them watching the 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to a new survey by Seychelles-based crypto exchange KuCoin.
4. Chinese mafia forcing Filipinos to work for crypto scams, says Philippine Senator
The organized crime gangs victimize both the trafficked and those that get scammed, according to the official.
A dozen Filipinos have been rescued from an alleged Chinese mafia-run cryptocurrency scam in Myanmar, Philippines Senator Risa Hontiveros said in a government plenary session on Monday.
Hontiveros said the 12 Filipinos, rescued by a network of nongovernmental groups, were forced by a reported Chinese organized crime gang to contact people online and get them to invest in fraudulent cryptocurrency sites.
The Filipinos were said to be human trafficking victims who were recruited for call center and offshore gaming operator jobs in Thailand. They were then lured to Myanmar and forced by the Chinese mobsters to work in the scamming network, the Senator said.
“These Chinese mafias are making the Philippines an incubator of scammers,” said Hontiveros.
Such scams, commonly known as “pig-butchering,” force thousands of human-trafficked victims to work in their scam centers under threat of violence, according to a report by the France-based blockchain security network Nefture.
Nefture said once a victim is trafficked, they are taught how to scam people around the world by establishing relationships through social media apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, and the dating platform Tinder.
Hontiveros, who chairs the Philippine Senate’s women, children, family relations, and gender equality committee, said Philippine citizens are being targeted in the trafficking due to high levels of English proficiency, which allows them to scam a wider variety of targets.
Failure to complete the fraud would be punished with lack of food, sale to another company, and threats to their lives, according to the Senator.
“The welfare of our people and our national identity are at stake. Filipinos are not and will never be known as a nation of scammers.”
5. Aussies warned to avoid crypto paper wallets they find on the street
Fraudsters have reportedly been leaving fake crypto paper wallets in public places as part of a scam to dupe Australians out of their crypto.
Australians have been warned to stay away from suspicious-looking fake Bitcoin paper wallets, which work by luring victims into accessing a lucrative crypto wallet but will ultimately drain them of their own crypto holdings.
According to a Nov. 22 post on the Facebook page of the NSW Police Force, the scam starts as a paper cryptocurrency wallet with a QR code, which is made to appear like a legitimate Bitcoin paper wallet.
These are strewn by scammers in public locations such as streets or parks.
An individual that locates the paper wallet and scans the QR code is directed to click on a link to access a crypto wallet with up to $16,000 Australian dollars ($10,000).
The person is then asked to pay a withdrawal fee and provide their own wallet credentials that will purportedly allow them to transfer the balance into their own crypto wallet.
“Once the withdrawal fee is paid and person’s crypto wallet details provided, the person's cryptocurrency is stolen from their crypto wallets,” explained the NSW police.
The authorities have advised the public to stay vigilant, and that anybody who finds a paper crypto wallet similar to this should not attempt to scan the QR code, access the account, or supply their private information.
Instead, they should surrender the wallet to their local police station.
This is not Australia’s first instance of a paper crypto wallet scam. Over three months ago, a user on Reddit created a thread reporting they had found a paper crypto wallet and flagged it as a possible scam.
Dozens of other people from all over the country responded with their own stories of finding paper crypto wallets in the street, on the beach and at parks.
One user, Pinnymc, commented they almost fell for it because they could see the wallet address and the transactions on-chain. They said the website also appeared genuine.
However, Pinnymc says they became suspicious because of the 0.5% transaction fee.
“If this was a legit wallet I should be able to withdraw and the transaction fee comes out of the balance. It’s such a shame because this looks so legit,” said the user.
