In the last a few months, the UK has seen an attack of a major crypto hack which affected more than 250 people and the hackers stole $650,000. The scheme used fake Bybit demo accounts to entice the unwitting into the scam and offer them easy money. The fraudster, who became known as “Ape 31,” is still switching the deposit addresses and thus it is difficult to track down the lost funds.
250 UK Victims Fall for Fake Bybit Demo Account
Blockchain expert ZachXBT has uncovered details of the crypto hack by analyzing 16 exchange deposit addresses linked to the scam. The addresses in a year received money from more than 250 victims and collected about $650,000. The victims were led to think that they were trading through genuine Bybit demo accounts and all along it was a fraud.
Another major problem in this crypto hack is the fact that Ape 31 alter the deposit addresses often, and this make it difficult to ascertain the overall magnitude of the entire operation. According to ZachXBT, the total stolen funds may be much higher since the scammer has been trying to avoid detection. He has, as a result reported his discovery to the police with the aim of identifying the movements of Ape 31 and stop further destructions.
1/ The UK scammer @ape_31 @60711 has stolen more than $650K from 250+ X users in the past year by posting fake PNL screenshots from a Bybit demo account and running a news account to funnel unsuspecting victims into paid services before blocking them upon receiving payment. pic.twitter.com/rWTRPbTiym
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 30, 2024
Besides the fake Bybit demo account, Ape 31 also tried to perform the fraudulent over the counter (OTC) crypto trade. The scammer enticed a potential victim into joining a video call by pretending that they needed to finalize a legitimate business deal.
However, the call was recorded and that clipping was released to the public and other victims of the scammer identified the voice. This recording according to the blockchain expert are linked to Ape 31 and numerous other fraud attempts, including the initial crypto hack.
Wider Crypto Hack Trends: BingX and Banana Gun Incidents
The Bybit demo account scam alerted by the blockchain expert is part of a larger surge in crypto hacks across the industry. Recently, the BingX exchange suffered a massive breach, resulting in over $43 million in stolen altcoins. The hacker behind this crypto hack converted the stolen assets into Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Coin (BNB), making recovery efforts difficult. BingX’s breach stands as one of the largest hacks in recent months.
Similarly, the Banana Gun protocol fell victim to a hack, where $3 million was stolen. In a positive turn, the Banana Gun team has committed to refunding all 11 affected victims using funds from their treasury.
These events underscore the growing threat of cryptocurrency hacks and scams targeting both centralized and decentralized platforms. According to data from Immunefi, cryptocurrency-related hacks resulted in $409 million in losses during the third quarter of 2024 alone.
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