Introduction
Scammers rarely sleep. Do they rest at all? The number of breaches and lost funds in the crypto space continues to climb daily because of these intruders. They are most active on X, a place where they have operated with relative ease and success. I bring you this live example of how scammers try to take advantage of celebrities activity on social media platforms especially X. Their aim is most usually to steal funds when unsuspecting users click a phishing link and connect wallets to a phishing website. So lets look at this example that is less than 24 hours old.
The poll - and the scam
You probably know about Dell computers and devices. The founder and CEO of the company is Michael Dell. Just less than 24 hours ago, he created a poll in which he asked what the most important thing is. He gave 4 options of answers and X users are responding to the poll. The post is still on his official and verified X account. I will drop a screenshot of it below. Click here if you want to see the poll on X.
Because Dell is a popular figure with significant following on X, many people are already responding - including one scammer that is trying to impersonate him. I wish to highlight this kind of tactics from scammers because it is not just frequent and popular on X - it works for them too.
So one of the responses is a scammer trying to impersonate Dell. Below is a screenshot of his account and the response he provided. Lets look at his response and the phishing link to a fake giveaway. Then we will also compare the two accounts - the fake and the real Michael Dell.
Before I show that this is a scammer, lets look at what was added to his response. Notice that after agreeing that Love and Relationship is the answer, the scammer added a phishing link where he, pretending to be the real Michael dell, is giving out $10,000,000 in USDT. Note that I already clicked the link even before coming back to look at the account carefully. But I often use an empty wallet to try these giveaway shits just incase.
So following the phishing link took us to a website which is a Fake Foundation which the scammer presented as coming from Michael dell. On top of the home page, the visitor is asked to link their web3 wallet to claim the airdrop.
Once you connect your wallet, any funds in it would be gone in a flash. Thats how these scammers operate and not a few will fall victim to them in phishing hooks like this one.
Happily, some experienced X users also identified the response as fake and scam. And they have warned others to avoid the scammers. Check their response:
So how did this scammer try to impersonate the original Michael Dell X account? Lets compare the real account and the fake one in the screenshot below:
Notice the close similarities between the original account on the right and fake one on the left. The name Michael Dell are just the same on both. Profile picture are the same. Cover images are different. But the real trick is the account username. The original was MichaelDell. The scam account added s to the name. So it was spelt MischaelDell.
This difference is difficult to spot especially in the midst of numerous other comments on the post. So by the time users that are not careful have know what is happening, some would link their accounts to the phishing website and have funds stolen in an instant.
Happily though the original Michael dell has noted the scam account and alerted his followers to beware of it as seen below:
Check links well before you click
Scammers are on the prowl. They are succeeding because a few users in the crypto space believe every word and have no time to check for authenticity. Its really painful to fall victim to scammers. Life savings or investments could be wiped off in an instant. So isn't it worth to take that second look and verify?
Phishing links are everywhere. And because many new users want to quick money, fake airdrops abound. So before you leap, its better to look very well. Do not click links from strangers. Verify website addresses and only participate in airdrops from official sources. If a popular figure is promoting a giveaway, please try to verify that it is from the real person.
If you are a little more careful, then scammers wont make you another statistic!!!!
Note: thumbnail from pixabay