MtGox Victims Targeted by Bitcoin Theiving Scammers
MtGox victims are not having an easy time reclaiming their money back after the 2014 collapse. According to cybersecurity firm Cyren , customers are receiving spam messages claiming to help them recover their money.
Kraken, the altcoin exchange is distributing $91 million in Bitcoins to people left out of pocket from the MtGox crumbling; however, the company has found itself involved in a series of spam messages claiming to originate from Kraken.
Once opened, the messages redirect customers to a Google Docs page claiming to provide an update on the status of Bitcoin recovery claims. In actual fact, what customers are opening is an executable file that delivers a Windows Trojan (W32/Trojan5.NRB).
According to Cyren, it is this Trojan that then undertakes the task of searching for any local Bitcoin wallets to empty.
Unbeknownst to customers who are receiving refunds from Kraken, they are receiving spam messages by a group claiming to be Kraken, pretending to help them recover the money they lost by MtGox and provide claim updates.
Kraken, appointed to oversee what remains of the MtGox company has reviewed thousands of claims by customers of MtGox and will hand out millions of dollars in the virtual currency to those who lost at the alleged hands of MtGox CEO, Mark Karpeles.
Over 24,000 claims have been filed, with claimants seeking exactly $2,411,412,137,427 United States dollars in total losses. Not everyone, however, will receive their losses back. One among the several denied claims included a single filing for over two trillion Yen in lost Bitcoin.
Customers seeking an update status on their claim should avoid opening or clicking on any unsolicited and untrusted emails, and should only check the status of their claim through the Kraken-run claims portal.
Image from Flickr. Photo courtesy of Antana .
