KUCOIN Impersonators Scam White Whale out of $US552,000
KUCOIN Impersonators Scam White Whale out of $US552,000
Online safety has been central to all educational material provided since the 90s with cybercrime now a primary focus of INTERPOL. In a recent publication INTERPOL stating that Cyber Crime has increased by 311% source. In Australia alone these crimes are reported to have costed the nation $AUD33Billion source.
Cyber crime has continued to grow since the inception of Crypto Currency with many scammers now seeking payment in Bitcoin due to it's challenges in being tracked and a scammers ability to remain anonymous.
Online scams have continued to become more elaborate in nature and scammers are inventing new ways of stealing funds from unsuspecting individuals and even companies. Ransomware attacks continue to be the primary go to for scammers but in recent years Crypto Currency has become a core focus.
Unlike mainstream banks which have regulated security measures many Crypto Currency projects and exchanges lack adequate infrastructure to prevent against a hack. But even hacks aren't just the only way you can lose your money in the Cryptosphere with more and more impersonators trolling online chats, media and networks waiting to pounce on an easy target.
Kucoin Scammers
A current scam involving an elaborate scheme is an alleged group of individuals portraying themselves as official Kucoin organisation representatives. As Kucoin is a popular crypto currency exchange many new projects are a target as projects require listings to ensure a continued amount of purchases, trades and sales are undertaken. The more exchange listings available to a project the greater their success.
Most recently KUCOIN Impersonators Scam White Whale out of $US552,000 by engaging with the White Whale team and offering a listing on the Kucoin exchange. However, the representatives were not employed by Kucoin and were able to appear authentic by altering their email accounts to mirror Kucoin official addresses.
In a statement released by White Whale discussions occurred over a few days and the scammers went to extreme lengths to appear authentic by producing a number of documents, KYC forms and contracts.
The White Whale team first alerted to the scam when on the 29 December 2021 at 10:00 UTC +8 they commenced promotion of the Kucoin token listing as agreed upon in the marketing strategy which also included Kucoin's announcement. After some time Kucoin did not make the announcement and the team concluded that they had been scammed and commenced contacting the appropriate contacts at Kucoin.
A copy of the media release and what occurred can be found Here
I have contacted Kucoin and attempted to reach out on their official telegraph and LinkedIn accounts to provide a statement about what has occurred and what the company is doing to address the false representatives to ensure more projects aren't scammed in this way. Unfortunately, Kucoin has not provided a response in time for the publication of this article.
I've also provided a few questions to the project team surrounding due diligence that was undertaken to ensure they were meeting with Kucoin representatives and what measures are in place for future listings.
In an official response Sebastian states that the team will be developing verification and identification processes to ensure this doesn't occur again indicating that the team has learned from the elaborate scam and upgrading internal processes.
The White Whale community remains determined to bounce back from the set back with many still remaining with the project and supportive of the transparency provided to the broader community on the issue.
Image Source
News of the scam has not appeared to cause any price impacts with White Whale still trading in the $US0.2 range and it is yet to be seen if the scammers will sell their 2,150,000 loot causing a price impact.
The recent occurrence is a clear example of the dangers that lurk within the cryptosphere and act as a stern reminder to project owners and investors alike to maintain security and undertake due diligence to the maximum to ensure you are not left high and dry.
Image sources provided supplemented by Canva Pro Subscription. This is not financial advice and readers are advised to undertake their own research or seek professional financial advice
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It looks like they are moving forward and taking it as a lesson. I never could understand why these scammers tried so hard to be legitimate when they have so much knowledge. After all, they could of easily built a business off their knowledge or get hired.
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From the sounds of things and the level of knowledge used to scam White Whale I wouldn't be surprised if it was ex staff members. They would have to have know the listing process down to the most intricate level.