BitVex is the end destination of a crypto scam using deep fakes of prominent cryptocurrency advocates as promotion to steal deposited currency.

In the deepfake videos, advocates such as Musk claim to own the scam trading platform, stating that he created the site to allow everyone to earn up to 30% returns on their crypto deposits.

According to researchers at BleepingComputer, the campaign began in early May, with threat actors creating or hacking existing YouTube accounts to host deep fake videos of crypto advocates including Cathie Wood, Brad Garlinghouse, Michael Saylor, and Charles Hoskinson.

The scammers then take these legitimate interview clips, modify them with deepfake technology, using the person’s voice in a low-quality script provided by the threat actors.

Despite the effort by the scammers, the deep fake synchronizes the person’s talking to the script, and it is quickly obvious that the interviews are not real.

Many YouTube channels promoting the BitVex platform have been hacked to show YouTube videos that promote the trading site, such as one displaying Arabic gaming videos showing a series of YouTube Shorts promoting the BitVex scam.

Commenting on the inner-workings of the trade platform, BleepingComputer said: “Once you visit the BitVex trading site itself, it becomes more apparent that this is a scam.

“For example, the site claims that Elon Musk is the CEO of the trading platform and contains endorsements from Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

“To use the BitVex platform, users must register an account at bitvex[.]org or bitvex[.]net to access the investment platform.”

Once logged in, users are greeted with a dashboard allowing users to deposit various cryptocurrencies, select an investment plan, or withdraw their earnings.

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“Like almost all cryptocurrency scams, the dashboard will display recent withdrawals of various cryptocurrencies to make the site appear legitimate, as shown below,” BleepingComputer added.

“However, these withdrawals are created through JavaScript, randomly selecting one of five different cryptocurrencies (Cardano, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Ripple, or Binance Coin) and randomly generating withdrawal amounts. These fake withdrawals are changed randomly on each page refresh.”

The scam has a low success rate, with only around $1,700 deposits to its cryptocurrency addresses seen by BleepingComputer. However, these addresses are likely rotated, so they could have stolen more since the scam launched.

Cryptocurrency scams have become increasingly profitable, especially as the price of digital currencies fluctuates. According to a report by the FTC, around $80 million has been lost to cryptocurrency investment scams since October 2020.

Additionally, deepfake technology has become more sophisticated, and the chances of it being used to scam unsuspecting users is increasing.

Creating and using the technology has now become easier than ever before, according to Grant Robertson, senior security engineer at Synopsys Software Integrity Group.

The technology techniques used by deepfakes are now “readily available and easy enough for a person to create videos of anyone, providing they have sufficient source material,” he commented.

Dr. Lydia Kostopoulos, Senior Vice President of Emerging Tech Insights at KnowBe4 said that a lack of education is causing a rise in these types of scams: “These fake cryptocurrency giveaways are an urgent call for a public education campaign on what cryptocurrencies are, how digital wallets work and what social engineering scams look like with this new technology.

“As for deep fakes, they are getting more sophisticated and they are and will continue to be part of our information ecosystem. As such, it is important for the public to be able to understand what to look for. Both the private and public sector have a role to play in raising awareness in efforts to help prevent scam campaigns from being successful.”

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