BTC ERA Phishing Attack

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Bitcoin Era

Bitcoin Era is a trading tool which purports to allow for profitable cryptocurrency trading. As if the service weren't suspicious enough by claiming 99% success in transactions and marketing itself using celebrities, there were reports of phishing emails claiming to be from Bitcoin Era but actually from a separate scammer. Once the user visits the site, they are prompted to give approval to malicious adware.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About Bitcoin Era

"Become a part of the Bitcoin Era and Start trading Cryptocurrency like a Pro"

"Our Bitcoin Era platform is able to provide regular people with the best of the best trading tools. Our reputable partners are Crypto trading enthousiasts that can offer various methods to trade Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Tether, XRP and sometimes many more. On top of that they are licensed by an official regulator to make sure your investment is completely safe."

"Our Bitcoin Era app is simply a secure gateway that helps people enter the world of trading, and in particular Bitcoin trading. But that's not all. As most of our partners offer trading tools that give you the possibility to trade Cryptocurrencies without the use of a wallet or other technical storage devices. On top of that they offer systems like stop-loss, indicators, automation tools, robots and other technical highlights to help you overcome the volatility in the markets."

"Some cybercriminals have been counterfeiting the BTC ERA trading platform in order to infect potential users with malware. The cybersecurity company discovered that the perpetrators had been sending emails allegedly from BTC ERA to induce users to invest and pay."

"The attack impersonates an automated email from BTC Era, a platform for trading cryptocurrency. However, the email is actually sent from aurinekevinlola@gmail.com. The sender addresses the recipient by name, and the email states that the recipient has been approved to make a BTC transaction, which requires a minimum deposit of $250 to start. Following this is a concealed URL with text that reads “create an account”."

"Clicking on the “create an account” link leads to multiple redirects, before landing on “theverifycheck.com” webpage. Upon arriving at this landing page, a pop-up alert requests permission to show notifications from the website. After clicking “Allow” the landing page remains static."

"By clicking “Allow”, the user has actually given permission for Adware to run on their device. It only appears that nothing has happened. Going into chrome settings, the user would be able to see that the website is running Malwarebytes, thus rendering their devices as tools to monitor user behavior, as well as launch ads and spam targeting the user."

Ken Liao, vice-president of cybersecurity strategy at Abnormal Security, commented: “We have seen that over the last few months the weekly volume of attacks impersonating Bitcoin platforms has remained relatively constant. We saw an increased rate of these impersonations between the end of March through the beginning of May, though.”

He added: “We would advise organizations and their employees to double check the senders and addresses for messages to ensure that they’re coming from legitimate sources. Don’t just trust the display name. In addition, we would advise everyone to always double check the webpage’s URL before signing in.

“Attackers will often hide malicious links in redirects or host them on separate websites that can be reached by safe links. This allows them to bypass link scanning within emails by traditional email security solutions. If the URL looks suspicious, don’t enter your credentials and always verify with your company’s IT department."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - BTC ERA Phishing Attack

Date	Event	Description
August 25th, 2020	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

No funds were lost.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.