Hackers use fake gaming apps to steal cryptocurrency to make money, FBI warns

San Francisco, March 13 (SocialNews.XYZ) The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned that threat actors are now using fake rewards in so-called “game finder” mobile and online games to steal millions worth of cryptocurrency.

This is achieved through the use of custom-made gamification applications that promise huge financial rewards directly proportional to the investment in potential targets with whom they have previously developed trust through long online conversations, BleepingComputer reports.

“Criminals connect with victims online and build a relationship with them over time. The criminals then introduce the victims to an online or mobile game in which players allegedly earn cryptocurrency rewards in exchange for some activity, such as ‘farming’ on an animated farm,” FBI Internet According to a new public service announcement from the Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

Victims are instructed to buy cryptocurrency and create a crypto wallet in order to participate in these large prize games.

Scammers tell them that the alleged rewards increase as the victim stores more money in this wallet.

When victims stop depositing funds, criminals lure their wallets with fake rewards.

In addition, these fraudsters tell victims that they can recover their investment by paying additional taxes or fees, but this is just a ruse, leaving victims empty-handed, the report said.

Meanwhile, more than 4,00,000 new malicious files were distributed by cybercriminals to attack users in 2022, a 5 percent increase from 2021, a new report says.

In 2021, around 3,80,000 such files were detected per day, while in 2022 Kaspersky’s systems detected around 122 million malicious files, up 6 million from the previous year, according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

Source: IANS