Scammers Steal Rs 1,000 Crore From Indian Crypto Users, Bitcoin Rises

Cryptocurrency traders in India continue to fall victim to high profile scams. CloudSEK researchers have recently discovered a new scam known as CoinEgg, which has defrauded users in India of up to Rs 1,000 crore, according to various media reports.

CloudSEK researchers found that the scheme involves multiple payment gateway domains and Android-based applications.

Attackers first created fake domains impersonating crypto trading platforms with the word ‘CloudEgg’. Victims were then enticed to sign up for fake exchanges using a free credit and start trading. They eventually invested their own money and “seemingly” also made profits.

Once the victims realised the con and complained on other platforms about their experience, the attacker used other fake accounts to reach out to them, posing as investigators. Once the victim added their own money, the attackers would freeze their account to keep them from withdrawing the funds, and eventually disappear.

CloudSEK is the latest company to warn of an increase in cryptocurrency scams around the world. Last week, an FBI special agent stated that scammers were increasingly targeting LinkedIn users and posing a “significant threat” to the platform’s users.

In other news, job postings for cryptocurrency, Blockchain, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have increased by 804 per cent between April 2020 and April 2022. The increase in 2022 was 315 percent. The data also shows that crypto roles appear to have the highest proportion of hires among all technology job roles.

In terms of hiring for jobs, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are at the forefront. According to Gartner’s global report, the business value generated by Blockchain will grow rapidly, reaching $176 billion by 2025. It has the potential to increase job opportunities for Indian firms.

Crypto Prices

The price of Bitcoin in the cryptocurrency market rose by 2.51 per cent in the last 24 hours, and it was trading at $21,277.75 at 4:45 pm IST. According to Coinmarketcap.com, its dominance in the crypto market is currently at 43.47 per cent, up by 0.03 per cent in the last 24 hours.

In the last 24 hours, Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $1,161.73, up by 0.70 per cent, while Binance Coin (BNB) was up by 3.39 per cent during the same time period, and it was trading at $222.74. Solana (SOL) was up by 5.43 per cent to $37.78, while Cardano (ADA) was up by 1.30 per cent to $0.5061.

Meme Coins

Dogecoin was trading at $0.06488 at 4:45 pm IST, up by 7.40 per cent on Coinmarketcap.com. Its rival, Shiba Inu, was up by 13.12 per cent, and it was trading at $0.000009313. Samoyedcoin was up by 7.86 per cent, and it was trading at $0.004887, while Dogelon Mars was up by 3.49 per cent, and it was trading at $0.0000002698.

Overall Scenario

According to Coinmarketcap.com, the global crypto market cap was at $932.73 billion, an increase of 1.79 per cent in the last 24 hours, while the total crypto market volume was $74.15 billion, a decrease of 7.74 per cent.

Petsneaker (PSC) was the biggest gainer, gaining 331.56 per cent. It was trading at $0.008784 at 4:45 pm IST, according to Coinmarketcap. In contrast, OSK (OSK) witnessed the maximum loss and fell by 92.55 per cent. It was trading at $24.58.