A new kind of online scam called CryptoRom — a combination between cryptocurrency and romance — has seen the rise of fraudsters milking the savings of their victims. They can do this by duping their targets into installing suspicious applications on their Android or iOS mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, making them more susceptible to theft threats.
CryptoRom scams generally begin with social engineering attacks, wherein the scammer befriends the victims via apps used for dating like Bumble, Facebook Dating, or Tinder. Once they’ve built a relationship with them, their conversations are then moved to encrypted messaging or chat apps, with WhatsApp being one of the most popular.
Winning trust
As the relationship between the fraudsters and their victims develops, the former encourages the latter to commit to cryptocurrency purchases from popular exchanges, prodding them to get fake trading apps instead of legitimate ones financially. A scammer may even offer some money to their victims to build and strengthen their trust.
The scam comes to light once the victims wish to withdraw the money they invested and stop trading, only to find out that they’ve been locked out of the account by the fraudsters. In many cases, the victims are forced to cover a fee for the withdrawal of the money, and they learn about this by chatting with a customer support representative who happens to be included in the scam.
The good news is that with the help of companies like MyChargeBack, it’s still possible to recover the funds from fraudsters. To learn more about this company, read up on the MyChargeBack review.
Workarounds
CryptoRom fraudsters are increasingly becoming sophisticated and can bypass the Apple store’s security measures. One of the latest workarounds involves the creation of test models of the apps via the Test Flight feature that’s used by many developers. As its name suggests, the feature is utilized to test the software. Unfortunately, however, scammers take advantage of it, providing users a means to get bogus apps that are outside of the store.
In some instances, victims had gotten fraudulent versions of what would otherwise be a legitimate exchange app made available via the Test Flight feature. Android users are no exception — malicious apps are made to look similar to legitimate apps. However, they’re distributed on corrupt websites. This is why the scam has been so successful.
Avoiding the scam
Thankfully, CryptoRom scams aren’t as hard to avoid as you might think. When using online dating websites or apps, all you need to do is be vigilant. People looking for love are unlikely to ask you for your money. Steering clear of those who do is an excellent way of staying safe.
Conclusion
There aren’t many scams as popular and effective as CryptoRom. Unfortunately, because of how many people continue to be successfully victimized by it, there’s a good chance that this scam will grow. So always keep an eye out for anyone trying to lure you into investing in crypto online, especially from dating apps. It will make a difference.
