Binance warns of a new type of crypto fraud using deepfakes

The perpetrators called projects under the guise of a chief communication officer of the exchange to offer listing assistance for a fee

22.08.2022 - 14:55

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2 min

What’s new? The scammers impersonated Binance cryptocurrency exchange chief communications officer (CCO), Patrick Hillmann, in video calls to project representatives who were promised help with listing on the platform for a fee. The attackers chose Zoom to make the calls and also used the top manager's deepfake. The scheme was uncovered when companies began contacting Hillmann directly to express their gratitude for his “assistance.”

Information on the Binance blog

What else did the platform's CCO say? Hillmann noted that no third parties are involved in the Binance listing process, and clarified that project proposals are only accepted through an application on the official website. He did not specify which crypto projects were targeted or what material damage they suffered. Hillmann added:

“Beyond this latest incident, there’s been a recent spike in hackers pretending to be Binance employees and executives on platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, etc. We are prepared to defend our users and our ecosystem.”

Earlier, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao warned that there were 7 000 fraudulent profiles on LinkedIn, the owners of which presented themselves as employees of his crypto exchange, while only about 50 pages on the business platform belonged to his real colleagues.

On July 2, attackers hacked into the British Army's Twitter and YouTube accounts to promote the NFT collections Bapescaln and The Possessed. On YouTube, they posted promotional videos depicting the head of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk.

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