- Cofense uncovers IRS-themed crypto scam with Elon Musk
- Fake IRS Emails Steal Personal, Banking Data
- Victims lured by a fake “Dogecoin Initiative” that demands payments in Bitcoin
Security researchers at Cofense have discovered a new cryptocurrency scam that combines Elon Musk with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The United States is in peak tax season, which also means that IRS-themed scams are reaching their zenith, and as with most fraud campaigns, this one also starts with an email.
Designed to look like it’s from the IRS, the email tells the recipient that they’ve been selected to receive a $5,000 financial injection, courtesy of none other than Elon Musk.
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Those who don’t ask stupid questions (for example, why would Elon Musk send money to random people through the IRS?) and click the buttons provided in the email, are redirected to a series of malicious landing pages, designed to steal all kinds of sensitive personal and banking information.
As part of the registration process, necessary to receive reimbursement from Elon Musk, victims are asked to share their full names, postal and email addresses, telephone numbers, driver’s license numbers, names of their employers and even their banking institutions.
They are also asked to upload a photo of their ID and provide account and routing numbers.
“Using this information, threat actors would be able to conduct much more sophisticated social engineering and identity theft attacks beyond the information extracted from the credential phishing form,” the researchers said. “Threat actors could also steal money directly from the victim’s bank account because they have access to the account and routing numbers.”
The scammers didn’t stop there. They also invited victims to be part of a fake “ElonMusk Dogecoin Initiative.” They are told that if they buy $10,000 worth of Bitcoin (from a fake exchange) and send it to Elon’s address, they will be refunded and keep $500 per transaction.
At the time Cofense wrote the report, Bitcoin wallet addresses belonging to the attackers showed no transactions, meaning no one took the bait. Let’s hope the Cofense report raises enough awareness to keep it that way.
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