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The Cardano Foundation has issued a warning to the public against some individuals who claim to know members of the foundation, in order to possibly lure investors to deposit funds with them.
Suspects Claim Connection With Cardanao to Boost Investors’ Confidence
In an announcement published on Thursday (July 9, 2020), the Cardano Foundation alerted the public to suspicious activities in Japan. According to the publication, the suspicious individuals claim to have connections with the Caribbean crypto exchange, BTCNEXT.
In addition to saying that they were contracted by the Caribbean exchange, the individual(s) allegedly purport to personally know core members of the Switzerland-based Foundation. Such claims are methods used to assure investors that their funds are in safe hands.
However, Cardano rejected the claims, further stating that it has no connections with BTCNEXT and the Caribbean exchange is not one of its partners. Also, the Foundation advised members to be wary of such elaborate claims and carry out investigation before investing funds.
To further buttress its warning, the Cardano Foundation said:
“Thus, we strongly urge you not to send your ada to any third-party entities which claim to have partnerships with Cardano or officials from the entities within the Cardano ecosystem. We will never ask you to send your funds (assets) to us.”
Regulators and Crypto Firms Getting Ahead of the Fraud Problem
Cardano’s warning is similar to a warning statement issued by Coincheck’s parent company, Monex, back in 2019. According to Monex, impersonators targeted new users on its platform by putting up make-belief acts to steal users’ funds.
Impersonation is one of the commonest methods used to fool unsuspecting investors. Rogue actors to impersonate well-known organizations or crypto platforms in order to win investors’ confidence.
With the advent of COVID-19, bad actors seem to be using the pandemic to cash out at the expense of investors. In March 2019, Sophos security expert, Chester Wisnieswki revealed that scammers impersonated the World Health Organization (WHO) to get Bitcoins.
According to Wisniewski, the impersonators created a fake WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund which asked for donations in Bitcoin. Also, the UK Police warned residents against coronavirus scammers asking for payment in BTC.
As reported by BTCManager in June 2020, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) in its report revealed that crypto scam investment projects became prevalent amid the COVID-19 pandemic. According to ASIC, investment scam reports recorded a 20 percent increase.