Taylor Monahan, a security officer at MetaMask, has posted a notice on X.
It has been discovered that malicious cryptocurrency fraudsters are using internet job recruiters to target their victims. Taylor Monahan, a well-known cyber investigator who uses the moniker @tayvano_, updated his 85,000 X followers. The update claims that scammers are contacting job seekers via recruitment sites such as LinkedIn, asking them to resolve problems with video-call software, and then infecting their PCs with harmful spyware to get access. Monahan is employed with MetaMask, a cryptocurrency wallet, in the security department.
Monahan posted screenshots of the job posting that the fraudsters were circulating in the post, which was part of a forum about the danger. The post advertises a phony position for a “Business Development Lead” at a company called “Halliday.” The senior level position offers an annual compensation range of $300,000 (approximately Rs. 2.56 lakh) to $350,000 (approximately Rs. 2.99 lakh) to attract applicants.
The fraudsters encourage job searchers to film a video response to the last question once they have finished answering the questions. When the “Request Camera Access” button is clicked, a new dialog requesting to solve a camera or microphone problem appears.
After you do that, Chrome will ask you to “fix the issue” by updating or restarting. It’s not resolving the problem. Malicious actors try to fool you into copying, pasting, or running code like this all day long. The Web3 investigator observed, “It will always destroy you.”
The fraudulent “fix the issue” notice with the headline “Access to your camera or microphone is currently blocked” appears, as seen in the screenshot that Monahan shared. The researcher also cautioned that depending on the system a prospective victim uses—Mac, Windows, or Linux—the fraudsters may provide different instructions for resolving the issue.
Through backdoor entries, this virus enables fraudsters to get access to victims’ PCs, which can then allow them to access cryptocurrency wallets and withdraw money.
According to a new FBI report, crypto fraudsters have improved their ability to recognize and target their victims. Scammers have increased their efforts to locate and contact potential victims by impersonating academics or professors on social media sites like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram, according to a July report from the Securities section of the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI).
To avoid jeopardizing their money, insiders in the cryptocurrency space, such as Monahan, have urged users to be attentive and informed about community alerts and cautions. Yi He, the co-founder of Binance, had reported an impersonation fraud earlier this year on X, where con artists were impersonating her name to advertise a phony cryptocurrency asset.
