Scammers and impostors are trying to take advantage of the horrific war unfolding in Ukraine by deceiving unsuspecting cryptocurrency users who wish to help the country through donations. Phishing websites and fake donation addresses
These individuals and groups appear to be using every means available, including phishing web pages, forum posts, e-mail links and fake crypto donation addresses shared via social platforms to entice users to "help Ukraine" by donating digital assets.
Cyber security companies and consumer experts have identified a number of such scams.
For example, BleepingComputer has gained access to a series of phishing emails that appear to come from official sources such as npr.org or the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Domains (OCHA).
The tech news bulletin also came across several forum posts attempting to trick users by posting fake cryptocurrency donation addresses.
A forum post reads that "the attack on Ukraine brings many problems and death to our families! Fundraising to provide targeted assistance to the needy, regardless of gender, age, citizenship ". “Many people need food and clothes, some sleep on the street !! Remember, every penny and every minute can save a life! "
The outlet also spotted some dubious donation sites, one of which is UkraineGlobalAid.com, a legitimate-looking website that encourages donations but is full of broken links. Specifically, the website's social media links are empty.
Earlier, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, which is reporting Ukraine's crypto donations, warned against such scams.
"It also appears that scammers are taking advantage of the current situation by deceiving unsuspecting users who wish to donate to Ukrainian causes," the company said. "Elliptic has identified a number of fraudulent cryptocurrency fundraising scams that are exploiting the current situation."
Scammers posing as Ukrainian citizens
Additionally, leading cybersecurity firm Avast also warned crypto scam users trying to exploit the situation in Ukraine in a recent blog post.
"Avast security experts have detected scammers posing as Ukrainian citizens affected by the current conflict demanding Bitcoin on social media," the company said.
Avast said there have been similar scams in the past, adding that "these attackers do not operate ethically" and use every opportunity to get money from other people.
However, many scammers aren't particularly hard to spot as their accounts are largely fake (usernames consist of letters and numbers with no meaningful profile picture or bio). Furthermore, they immediately mention cryptocurrency donations and share their addresses.
Security research firm ESET has also identified several examples of crypto scams trying to exploit the situation in Ukraine. The company shared two websites (help-for-ukraine.eu and tokenukraine.com) which were considered phishing scams.
Furthermore, in the last two days there has been a lot of talk about the launch of the airdrop coming from the Ukrainian government for cryptocurrency donors. Although the airdrop itself is confirmed, nothing surrounding it is. This is a breeding ground for scammers.
Etherscan shows that 7 billion Peaceful World (WORLD) tokens were created on March 2 and sent to Ukraine's cryptocurrency donation address. At this point, it is important to note that, while many speculate that this may be the airdrop in question, nothing related has been officially confirmed.
However, Ukrainian Minister for Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov said today that the airdrop has been canceled, as well as that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will soon be announced to support the military.
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