KuCoin Warns of Impersonator Scam Targeting Customers

Impersonator scams are at the center of the crypto industry’s news cycle once more, as a top exchange has raised alarms over a new scheme using its name to deceive investors. Earlier today, cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin sent out a warning to current and prospective customers about a scam website that uses its brand to get customers.

Fake Incentives for Crypto Deposits

An examination of the impersonator website showed that the operators ask users to deposit their digital assets in exchange for incentives. These could include high interests, bonuses on deposits, and more. KuCoin disavowed any relationship with the impersonator website in its report. The exchange highlighted that its two platforms (kucoin.io and kucoin.com) are entirely different, and that users should relate with any other service at their risk.

The exchange also counsels anyone who has fallen victim to the site to report the case to relevant law enforcement authorities to investigate for a possible recovery of losses.

Impersonator scams aren’t a novelty. While the increasing cases is a sign of worry, the tech industry as a whole has witnessed more. With more companies recognizing the need to move operations online, scammers have taken advantage of this to dupe some of their customers with highly sophisticated fakes.

Is There a Solution?

As for the crypto space, another service that appears to be dealing with impersonators is Uniswap. The top decentralized exchange has grown in popularity recently, but it has also come at a cost. Several tokens associated with it have reported cases of impersonators trading with their names.

Earlier today, Teller Finance, an upcoming decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, announced on Twitter that someone had created a fake Teller token and Uniswap pool.

The NEAR Protocol, another highly anticipated DeFi platform, tweeted last week that some party had impersonated its token in the lead-up to its commencement.  

“The only place for official word of NEAR tokens is near.org/tokens. Any NEAR currently for sale at locations not mentioned there are not officially sanctioned by the NEAR Foundation and participating puts you at severe risk,” the protocol confirmed.

News sources have identified more than one NEAR impersonator on Uniswap. Uniswap’s challenge comes from its inherent nature. As a decentralized exchange, the platform doesn’t have any listing rules. So, anyone can create a token and list it on its platform. There are over 400 tokens available for sale and trading on the platform, as well as over 300 unverified markets.

So far, it appears that the industry is at the mercy of these impersonator scammers. However, Floyx, a crypto-focused social media platform, has taken the responsibility of finding a solution.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Floyx’s chief executive, Kamil Kępiński, said that the company was developing an accounting system that will make it impossible for scammers to impersonate crypto firms and projects.

Accounts on Floyx are divided into categories — individuals, startups, and organizations. The platform verifies identities to reduce the risk of impersonators. As Kępińsk said, only personal accounts are visible on the platform. Companies and startups will need verification before being publicly available.

He added that firms can verify themselves by sending Floyx DMs on Twitter. Floyx could also reach out to companies to ask for some documentation and verify them from there.