Wallet drainer using Google Ads steals $59M, Solana flips BNB

If you ever search for a crypto platform And then click on the top link of Google Well Stop good morning you're listening to The rise and crypto podcast by coin Telegraph with me Robert bags steering You through the crypto Cosmos with daily Dispatches from the digital Frontier if You want to stay ahead of the curve in Crypto click that follow button go on do It I'll wait no I won't grab yourself a Coffee and let's get into It I want to catch you up on some pretty Deep story today so let's do a quick Rundown a wallet drainer and Google ads Have been combined to fish $59 million Of crypto in just 9 months a US court Approves the forfeiture of 69,000 Bitcoin from Silk Road sana's parabolic Price surge sees it briefly flip BMB for The first time in 2 years and Decentralized IDs with ZK proofs are key To Refugee safety according to a UN Agency so fishing scammers have been Using Google ads and X ads to Ste funds From victim's wallets using a wallet Drainer called Ms drainer to the tune of $59 million in 9 months this news came From a report by the blockchain security Platform scam sniffer which broke down Some details on X I will link to their Thread in the show notes but essentially Scam sniffer and the security platform Slow Mist first started looking into Ms

Drainer in March of this year by June Zack xbt was on the case an uncovered Fishing scam called ordinal bubbles that Was using X ads linked with this Ms Drainer in fact recent tests found nine Different fishing ads on X right now and 60% of them were using Ms drainer this Ms drainer unlike most wallet draining Services charges a fee upfront rather Than having a percentage of the loot Sent to the people behind the drainer by Code baked into the smart contract Ms Drainer costs around $1,500 for the base Model and is sold through a forum but You can add on functionality for more Money so I think the big question here Is how are these ads making it onto X And Google in all honesty X isn't that Surprising to me that scams are running Ads given the barrage of scams by Bots I Get targeted with every single day I Recently tweeted a video where it Reached double figures in a single day The way these fishing ads are getting Around ad audits particularly Google's Is a mixture of tactics but primarily It's regional targeting and Page Switching the scams attempt to look like The genuine sites for the likes of Zappa Lio Stargate defi llama orbitor finance And radiant and Cy of the ads they can Look convincing you see by using the Google ads the fishing links appear at The top of a search and the URL under

The link looks identical to the Non-sponsored genuine listing this is Due to something called redirect Spoofing and that link that does look Genuine doesn't go where it says it does But a similar looking fishing link this Exact tactic is also used on X the Impact of this is truly shocking over The 9 months scam sniffer has been Tracking Ms drainer scams they have Linked 10,000 and 72 different sites With it and the peak of which happened Just last month at the time of recording There have been 63,0 victims with a total of 58,183 1824 worth of crypto stolen I scroll Through the victims and there have been Some heavy losses to Ms drainer scams in This time period but number one really Stands out one victim address lost just Over $24 million of ethereum to an MS Drainer fishing scam in September this Year year according to the stats on the Platform Dune I spoke to the author of This article Tom Blackstone and here is What he had to say on it this Revelation About the MS drainer software serves as A sober reminder that we should all be Extra careful when using a search engine To find web 3 applications while search Engines strive to ensure that the top Organic result on a search engine result Page is the most relevant this system

Can be circumvented if a fishing site Buys advertising to Place their result At the top above the most relevant URL And despite search engines trying to Make sure that these results are not Scams some are bound to get through the Filters one way or another so if you're Searching for a web 3 protocol it may be Best to just scroll down the page and Bypass the ads the extra second this Takes just might save you from losing Your crypto Tom's absolutely right this Is a stark reminder that ads even on Google do not guarantee authenticity and That if you Google the name name of a Platform you want to use the top link Isn't necessarily the correct one we're Going to stay on the darker side of Humanity for One More Story as amican Noel kocher covered an update on one of The oldest scandals that involves Bitcoin Bitcoin to this day is called a Scam by many people and if you listen to Senator Elizabeth Warren it's the Financial system of the global elicit Underworld in more than one report the Percentage of crypto linked with crime Has been proven to be less than the Percentage of Fiat currencies linked With crime but there was a time where That perhaps wasn't true you see Bitcoin Had a strong use case early on in its Life and sadly for bitcoin's reputation It was Silk Road for the uninitiated

Silk Road was an Infamous dark web Marketplace created by Ross alrick on it You could buy just about anything on the Planet from drugs to allegedly murder For Hire it started back in 2011 and it Was shut down in 2013 and it run almost Entirely using Bitcoin in fact as Savannah Fortis wrote a few months back On the 10th anniversary of alri being Behind bars the Silk Road s facilitated Sales amounting to 9,519 664 Bitcoin between February 2011 And July 2013 and it took a commission Of 600,000 Bitcoin well this week the US District Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit released a filing that affirmed The transfer of 6937 Bitcoin which is over $3 billion Now from the now defunct Silk Road to Federal control in July a crypto wallet Linked to the doj conducted several Transactions that were were allegedly Connected to Silk Road the wallet moved A total of 98252 Bitcoin which was valued at around $299 million at the time but is now North of $400 million all of this is Important to be aware of for a reason That amaka points out in this article a Lot of crypto analysts are particularly Interested in how much Bitcoin the US Government has as they are fast becoming One of the largest holders and any major Sell-off would be felt by the

Market right on to more positive news Salana has been one of the most Interesting ecosystems in the space in The past few years with its token Feeling the full gamut of bulls and Bears in November 2021 as we were Perched precariously at top that Mountain peak salana was fourth by Market capitalization according to coin Market cap but then it all came tumbling Down yes as we know everything came Thundering back down that mountain over The next year but salana was Unfortunately caught in the slipstream Of the biggest Boulder on the mountain FTX FTX had significant Holdings of Salana and as a result took a harder Fall than most in fact from the all-time Highs of nearly $250 in November 2021 The soul token was below $10 just over a Year later I remember people at the time As they do suggesting that was it for Salana it couldn't come back from that Level of collapse well no Sayers be Damned salana has been sprinting back up That mountain like a seasoned sherper Yesterday salana first surpassed Ripple By market cap and then as it reached a Gain of 30% in the past week salana Flipped binance's BNB as of today it has Slipped back behind BNB but it's damned Close and it could certainly flip it Again as Martin Young wrote salana is Outperforming all other major cryptos at

The moment now some analysts have warned Of a major price correction for salana By New Year's and honestly their Prediction looks more like a crash yashu Goola worried that there isn't enough Underlying momentum to continue this Bull run but as it stands salana is on a Rampage we love stories like this with Salana but it can be easy to get wrapped Up in cryptocurrencies and the trends Around them it's important to remind Ourselves of the power the blockchain Technology and crypto have and the Problems they can solve recently the Central house put on an event in Geneva Switzerland and our editor-in-chief Christana moderated a panel with execs From a United Nations agency among some Others this panel was discussing Decentralized identity through ZK proofs And how they are critical to the safety Of refugees forced to cross borders ZK Proofs which stands for zero knowledge Proofs has a wide array of applications But what they are isn't common knowledge Yet earlier this year I worked with a Company solving the problem of digital Identities using ZK so let me quickly Explain how they work let's say you want To buy a course on the internet and you Find an online store that sells the Exact course you're looking for this Store then has to verify that you're From the United States and that you're

Over 18 years of age with most current Methods you will need to type your Address and date of birth these are two Major pieces of private information that The online store doesn't necessarily Need with ZK proofs your digital Identity will simply answer the Questions with yes or no youve already Verified your details when creating the Digital identity so the store can simply Say are you from the US and they will Receive a yes or a no then they can ask Are you over 18 and again they'll get a Yes or a no this random store does Receive some information about you but They don't get your date of birth or Address because it doesn't really need Them this is a pretty flippant example But there are some serious discussions That were had on this panel with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees unhcr the World Trade Organization and the international Telecommunication Union the unhcr is Trying to build an identity Infrastructure to enable refugees to Migrate or use their verified identity Wherever they go many refugees that are Forced to flee their Homeland then have To battle with proving who they are kman Het one of the treasurers at the unhcr Said imagine yourself as a refugee going Across borders not all of the laws in Every country are the same so the key is

To have a system that can ensure the Trust that we can guarantee as unhcr to Make sure identity is actually secure And safe for the people at risk as Braden lindrea pointed out in this Article a refugee who can't prove their Identity could end up being restricted From accessing a bank account employment Opportunities and other benefits and Services in the country they migrated to According to concordium one part of the Solution to this is ZK proofs integrated Into digital and ideally decentralized Identities but crypto has a role to play In these situations too het spoke of a Pilot project that delivered the usdc Stable coin to wallets accessible to to Ukrainian refugees as they couldn't Access their bank accounts het said Because of blockchain we can actually Deliver Aid within literally minutes I Can give you a quick personal example Here when the Russian Ukraine war broke Out my company was a block producer for A network and we were working with a Ukrainian company naturally we asked if There was anything we could do to help And they said that there was a charity That had been set up that they were Using in keave that needed money but Fear wasn't reliable so they were asking For crypto they were being bombed and Made homeless and crypto was allowing Them to buy Provisions so this panel was

A vital reminder that crypto and Blockchain aren't just about moonshots And Doge wrapped McLaren's this positive Change to be Had okay that is it for today so Consider yourself informed thank you for Listening to the ryzen crypto podcast by Coin Telegraph if you're enjoying these Daily updates please make sure you let Us know by following subscribing or Leaving a review have a great day let's Do this again next Week [Music]