Bitcoin.org Double Your Cash Scam

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Bitcoin.org

Bitcoin.org is a widely consulted reference on the bitcoin protocol and status. In September 2021, the site's DNS was redirected to a malicious server, which displayed a scam claiming to double people's money if they sent it to a particular donation address. While no post-mortem on the source of the breach was provided, domains can typically be hijacked and changed through a social engineering attack on the registrar. It appears that close to $18k worth of bitcoin was taken, although this is controversial since the largest transfer of 0.4 bitcoin may have come from the hacker themselves. None of the funds have been recovered.

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

About Bitcoin.org

"Bitcoin.org was originally registered and owned by Bitcoin's first two developers, Satoshi Nakamoto and Martti Malmi. When Nakamoto left the project, he gave ownership of the domain to additional people, separate from the Bitcoin developers, to spread responsibility and prevent any one person or group from easily gaining control over the Bitcoin project."

"From 2011 to 2013, the site was primarily used for releasing new versions of the software now called Bitcoin Core. In 2013, the site was redesigned, adding numerous pages, listing additional Bitcoin software, and creating the translation system."

"Although Bitcoin is assumed to be created by a pseudonymous identity, "Satoshi Nakamoto," the author of the research paper that gave birth to the cryptocurrency, a newer identity "Cøbra" is lately seen managing the Bitcoin.org website, social media, and community channels." "Today the site is an independent open source project with contributors from around the world. Final publication authority is held by the co-owners, but all regular activity is organized through the public pull request process and managed by the site co-maintainers."

"http://Bitcoin.org has been compromised. Currently looking into how the hackers put up the scam modal on the site. May be down for a few days."

"The Bitcoin Foundation is giving back to the community! We want to support our users who have helped us along the years. Send Bitcoin to this address, and we will send double the amount in return! Limited to the first 10000 users!"

"Appears to be DNS hijack as noted by @nukedotasia." "[I]t appears the domain was taken over. The WHOIS info was updated at the time of the hack, the nameservers + DNS changed, and if you try to visit any of the actual pages other than the index you'll get a 404. It's a completely different website save for the domain name."

"[U]nfortunately, some cryptocurrency enthusiasts may have fallen for the scam as evident from the attacker's wallet balance. The transaction history shows multiple deposits made from different Bitcoin addresses to the attacker's wallet."

"The last updated balance of the wallet was at 0.40571238 BTC or approximately US$17,000." "Scammers probably didn't make off with as much money as the BTC wallet shows as noted by @SadFrogFacts." "For context, 3 people have sent $100, 1 person has sent around $200, the rest(0.4 BTC) seems to have been sent as a way to make the “giveaway” seem legitimate, so likely scammer’s own coins."

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 - Bitcoin.org Double Your Cash Scam

Date	Event	Description
September 22nd, 2021 8:10:17 PM MDT	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

The total amount lost has been estimated at $18,000 USD.

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?

General Prevention Policies

In general, be familiar with the common scams. Anything claiming to pay back more than you send them is typically a scam.

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.