A cybersecurity research firm raises concern over Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s campaign for the US presidency and his MAGA supporters that many cryptocurrency scams targeted it.
As per a report from Netcraft, the campaign’s announcement that it would accept donations in cryptocurrency and Trump’s conviction of 34 felonies in the Stormy Daniels case, resulted in a massive spike in legitimate donations.
The report from June 18 carried out a phishing and smishing campaign via which it impersonated the Trump campaign and distributed dozens of malicious domains.
The fastest-acting fraudsters created a site nearly identical to the official Trump campaign page, but it was hosted at donalbjtrump.com. These scammers adapt quickly, mirroring the Trump campaign’s narrative, such as shifting to the “Never Surrender” slogan post-verdict.
In the Trump campaign, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was used to accept donations. However, scam websites seem to use Coingate-like portals, which are meant to resemble blockchain and cryptocurrency payment processors.
Rob Duncan, head of research at Netcraft, said, “As a victim, the fact that the real campaign is using Coinbase payments rather than direct cryptocurrencies. The way it’s been advertised is ‘Donald Trump’s taking cryptocurrency donations,’ when actually that’s quite it’s a bit more subtle.”
This quick adaptation has made it easy for scammers to deceive supporters, who contributed over $50 million in 24 hours following the guilty verdicts.
Another scam lures donors with a promise of dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago for $2,000. These fraudulent activities highlight the need for increased vigilance among donors and improved security measures from campaign teams.
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