Kaspersky Lab experts have raised concerns about the growing prevalence of cryptocurrency phishing scams in Azerbaijan.
According to recent reports, the number of such attacks has increased threefold over the past year.
Hackers and scammers have seemingly shifted their focus from traditional attacks to phishing tactics, in a bid to steal valuable digital assets.
In 2021, just over 1,000 such attacks were documented, whereas by 2022, that number had surged to 3,700.
Interestingly, this surge in crypto phishing incidents has been accompanied by a decline in hacks targeting banking applications.
Kaspersky analysts attribute this trend to the volatile nature of the digital asset market. To lure unsuspecting users to phishing sites, fraudsters use a range of tactics.
These include conventional email campaigns, as well as more sophisticated approaches such as the substitution of payment pages.
For example, some users receive a PDF file that claims to show a significant amount of assets on a cloud mining platform.
The scammers purport that the user registered on the platform several years ago and can now withdraw a sizable sum.
However, the link in the file leads to a phishing site where the victim is asked to enter personal details and a credit card number. To complete the transaction, the victim is then required to pay a “transfer fee”.
It’s worth noting that Kaspersky Lab previously reported that more than a third of Americans who own cryptocurrencies have fallen victim to scams.
Unfortunately, many users still don’t pay enough attention to the security of their digital assets, leaving them vulnerable to phishing attacks and other fraudulent schemes.