Telegram Steem Scam
Hello Steemians, a Scam on Telegram got concluded today the 27th of November, 2019. This scam was built around the Steem site creed and I would like to outline how it began and ended and what steps other persons may take to ensure they not fall for the gimmicks of these fraudsters.
“Telegram Scams,” are plenty a bot. You know “bots” eh? Telegram thistles with bots which kind of makes it special and different from WhatsApp Messenger and a whole other bunch of Messengers too. Bots are essential to these scams.
There are (as far as I know) two Bot centred scams: the investment scam and the Airdrop Scam.
The investment scam requires an investment of Bitcoins, Ethereum, Litecoins and Dogecoins for a period of time say 10 days, 20 days, 30 days or even 90 days.
The Airdrop scam requires a person to register for Airdrop in the bot. The registration requires emails, ethereum address, at times, Twitter accounts and a compulsory referral of five other persons without which there would be no reward. Bot scams end with participants been unable to send messages in the group chat as to warn other persons of the scam.
The particular scam I am writing about started just like the earlier ones – I count 2 earlier ones involving Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Populous Coin (PPT), registering via bot with the expectation the Airdrop would be released today, 27th November, 2019.
I want to outline how the Airdrop Scam works as it is perfectly suited to the Ethereum Network – and if you are thinking “Gas” you are right on the nail!
The Bait.
You are invited to an Airdrop for any coin – Ethereum Classic (ETC), Ripple (Wrapped Ripple is ERC-20 Token), Ethereum (ETH) from the Ethereum Foundation, Populous (PPT), and so on.
The Hook.
You register in the bot for the said Airdrop which will be paid out on a predetermined date in the near future – say in 2 weeks or 4 weeks. Registration involves joining a Channel for announcements and Group chat for quick support and to keep your interest in the project alive. Email addresses are collected by the Airdrop bot. Ethereum Addresses for payout is collected by the bot and you are asked to follow a Twitter page and retweet a pined post. Referrals, 5 referrals are made mandatory without which you will not receive a payout even after tweeting like a bird (that is a red flag) and still very legitimate.
The Shuffle.
The shuffle appears in one or two ways. The scammers may simply go straight to ask for a gas fee payment multiplied by the number of persons in the group or take the route of letting all subscribers believe they have entered an agreement with the Ethereum Foundation or other community to distribute Ethereum to the amount of Millions to any lucky participants. All you need to do is visit a link, copy the generated Ethereum address, send a minimum of 0.5 ETH and you will get 1 eth in return within 4-8 mins and there is no maximum limit of Ethereum you may send, it will be doubled.
At this point, the Airdrop bot stops functioning and communication in the Group Channel becomes restricted till the scammers think they have had enough and hightail it.
This is what is ongoing and I hope someone learns a thing or two from this. I wanted to post this yesterday but decided to ascertain the group would go the way the others did. I also attempted to sound a warning in the Group chat but got a friend of mine banned for speaking out. As at this time, the scammers have begun a new Airdrop and sorry to anyone who plays along. Stay safe.
