Little time? At the end of the text there is a summary.
Manuel Schmitt is angry, even on himself. "I chatted with them half the working day," he says, "four or five hours". Schmitt, in other words, has recently transferred Bitcoin worth around $ 2,000 to someone who claims to be an employee of a crypto-exchange customer service. The coins are gone, because confirmed Bitcoin transactions can not be reversed. "They tricked me," says Schmitt. And: "That only worked, because I was desperate."
Schmitt is one of many users who have traded or tried using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether or Iota in the past few months - and who eventually realized that they had made expensive mistakes. Some lost their complete crypto field, others like Schmitt only a part. But it always hurts to be betrayed.
Manuel Schmitt has become a private chat in Messenger Telegram. He wanted to withdraw via the crypto exchange Binance Jersey, an offshoot of the popular trading venue Binance, Bitcoin worth nearly 5000 euros in his bank account. However, the money did not come as fast as Schmitt had expected - apparently because Binance Jersey had temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals in euros and pounds. On SPIEGEL's request, the company admitted in mid-February that it had problems with its payment service provider.
No postal address, no hotline
Schmitt became restless. The Binance Jersey website has neither a postal address nor a telephone number. And on written queries to the customer service, he initially received only automatic receipt confirmations. So Schmitt soon decided to ask in an official group of Binance in the chat service Telegram, whether others have similar problems.
By direct message, an account called "Customer Support Helpdesk" with Binance logo as a profile picture, which offered to solve the problem. It was to be the start of a longer chat, at the end of which Schmitt transferred 0.65 Bitcoin, about 2000 Euro, to a Bitcoin address to "reactivate" his account. After 120 minutes at the latest, everything should be fine again, they said. But that was a lie. The Customer Support Helpdesk had nothing to do with Binance.
Manuel Schmitt tells, later even had been tried to abrade him more crypto field. He was - again via telegram - suggested that there was a way to retrieve his 0.65 Bitcoin.
This is not surprising - crypto-criminals are inventive: there are cases where users have created the keys to their electronic wallets directly from scammers, as well as cases where crooks faked the websites of large exchanges in order to capture access data. Who is behind the mesh, remains mostly unclear. Few cases end up in the police, also because the victims often do not expect any investigation results or because their mistakes are embarrassing. Enlightenment could help other users avoid fraud.
A confusing environment
Manuel Schmitt knows that he was too good-faith. But he also says: If the support of Binance Jersey had answered faster, what was going on with his payout, he would not have made with his post the target for criminals. Telegram groups as a communication channel finds Schmitt "dangerous and confusing".
In fact, the service quickly overwhelms new users. Members of public groups, for example, can be contacted by any other user by default - and anyone can freely choose name and profile picture. Therefore, some alleged customer services are active in the environment of the Binance groups. The stock market is aware of this problem, on Twitter warns against criminals posing as employees.
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Real chat groups (Binance Jersey and Binance German), three false helpers and a real bot
Who wants to reconstruct how Schmitt got the rip-off account, lands quickly in similar fraud attempts. A test account under a pseudonym indicated in two official Binance groups, each with only one post, that a payout is coming. It took just 15 minutes and once more than 45 minutes, already reported by direct message two accounts with Binance logo, once "Official Helpline" and once "Customer Support".
The chat with "Customer Support" stalled quickly, the "Official Helpline" account was more dedicated - and even mentioned an order number that another account, the "Binance Technical Team", should help. This encouraged after another half an hour chat to make a payment of 15 percent of the crypto field, which is the problem, make.
Here you can follow the chat history:
"How can we help?": Crypto-chats with scammers
introduction
How do scammers convince frustrated users of crypto exchanges to send Bitcoin to them? Under the pseudonym "Miroslav W," the author has conducted chats to find out how criminals act. After "Miroslav W" in two Binance telegram groups had suggested that a payout of the stock exchange is coming, soon reported the account "Official Helpline" by direct message. His profile picture was a Binance logo.
First chat with "Official Helpline"
Monday, February 11, 2019
[15:27:53] Official Helpline: Hello. Welcome to Binance Helpline. How may we help you?
[15:32:37] Miroslav W: I have a problem with binance Jersey. Can u help me with that?
First, the fraudster or the try to find out more about the (alleged) annoyance. It describes a problem that coincides with the real one of Manuel Schmitt.
[15:36:43] Official Helpline: Which problem do you have exactly? Kindle elaborate
[15:39:05] Miroslav W: I started EUR withdrawal but nothing happened for some days now. I send you a support request but did not get an answer.
[15:42:30] Official Helpline: Kindly provide your email address and a screenshot of your page
[15:49:29] Miroslav W: [...] @ gmx.de, but I do not have a screenshot available right now.
At this point, a real e-mail address that was created for testing purposes is mentioned. The scammers are now trying to gather more details - probably to find out how much crypto money to get.
[15:49:57] Official Helpline Okay. How much is the withdrawal you are processing? Do you have the order number?
The following calls of the "Official Helpline" by telegram were accidentally missed because the service is muted in the office.
Missed call
Missed call
The following was a fictional, but structurally realistic order number called.
[16:01:30] Miroslav W: It's around 4000 EUR. The order number is [...]
[16:01:38] Official Helpline: OkayWe want to open a thread on our database. Do not talk to any other support because of multiple thread can cause jam on our database. We want to open a thread on our database right away based on your issue
Interestingly, fake support warns against talking to other support accounts. This probably refers to the real Binance support through the website, but also to other criminals who are on the road with a similar scam on Telegram.
[16:04:55] Miroslav W: ok, thank you
The following is a kind of order number, with the instruction to log in to a second account - maybe a second person will take over the chat here.
[16:06:18] Official Helpline: Your thread number is # 1256188.
It has been forwarded to the technical team. Kindly contact the technical team @ binancetech1.
Make sure you ask the technical support.
In order to avoid scam, make sure you ask your thread number before you proceed.
Thank you
First chat with "Binance Technical Team"
[16:17:35] Miroslav W: Hello technical team, my thread number is # 1256188
[16:18:42] Binance Technical Team: Hello. Your thread has been successfully opened based on our database. We are currently working on it. We want to get back to you shortly
[16:21:27] Miroslav W: thanks
[16:25:05] Binance Technical Team: Hello
[16:33:03] Miroslav W :?
[16:35:57] Binance Technical Team: We have successfully traced your withdrawal. We found a jam on the memopool of your account which led to clogging and jamming of the transaction. We have successfully traced the withdrawal
The one or more fraudsters have come up with an idea of what the problem with the account is. There is talk of a "blockage". On the question of details is dodged.
[16:38:35] Miroslav W: What does that mean?
[16:38:54] Binance Technical Team: You need not worry. We want to get the issue resolved. All you need to do is follow it all
[16:41:28] Miroslav W: cool. thanks
[16:42:44] Binance Technical Team: Before the issue can be resolved. We have to get the transaction unclogged on our database
[16:43:47] Miroslav W :?
[16:44:45] Binance Technical Team: You have to make a refundable unclogging deposit into the linked generated unclogging address. The deposit will be used in linking and validating the unclogging process on our database. The deposit will be sent to your account after the issue is resolved. In which cryptocurrency coin would you like to make the deposit so we can proceed?
So it should be transmitted Kryptogeld, so then everything runs as usual again. The payment should then be refunded. The victim can even choose which digital currency to pay for.
[16:45:46] Miroslav W: bitcoin
[16:45:52] Binance Technical Team: Okay. We want to generate the unclogging address right away so you can make the deposit 3DfxC6vWGkkvkG7Q2LR4wcM6UP7tjiNCe4
> Binance Technical Team
> 3DfxC6vWGkkvkG7Q2LR4wcM6UP7tjiNCe4
That is the generated unclogging address where the deposit will be made
[16:47:55] Miroslav W: is this a binance address?
[16:48:15] Binance Technical Team: > Miroslav W> is this a binance address?
Yes, it is the official unclogging address. It is a linked unclogging address generated on our database. Once you make the deposit, we will proceed with the unclogging and it will be back into your account after the unclogging is completed
A bitcoin address is given to which the payment should be sent. It is claimed that this is an official address for such cases.
[16:49:59] Miroslav W: ok
[16:50:14] Binance Technical Team: Kindly proceed to make the deposit so we can proceed
[16:50:43] Miroslav W: what is the deposit?
[16:51:27] Binance Technical Team: The deposit is 15% of the amount
15 percent of the amount is expected to be paid out. 15 percent of 4000 euros equals 600 euros.
[16:55:12] Miroslav W: hm, it's not my fault that unclogging happened, why do I have to pay now?
[16:55:48] Binance Technical Team: The deposit will be refunded into your account, it is only needed to validate and link to the unclogging on our database
> Miroslav W
> hm, it's not my fault that unclogging happened, why do I have to pay now?
It is not a form of charge, it is only needed to validate the unclogging process, it wants to be refunded into your account. The withdrawal is processed by the hash script on our database and this led to jam and clogging of the transaction
The payment is supposedly necessary to put an end to the blockage - or something like that, the technical explanation of the whole problem remains nonsense.
[16:59:44] Miroslav W: Is it possible to make a test transcation with 0.00003 Bitcoin? (one euro)
Here, a test was asked whether immediately the entire amount must be sent. Then it is signaled that a test euro is too little. But you could pay as much as you would have available quickly.
[17:00:40] Binance Technical Team: The official deposit is always 15% of the deposit with issue. How much deposit can you make right now so we can do it as soon as possible
> Miroslav W
> Is it possible to make a test transcation with 0.00003 Bitcoin? (one euro)
That's way too low, it will not be able to activate the unclogging escrow address
Second chat with "Official Helpline"
At this point, the first account logs again - probably to increase the pressure. The instructions should be followed.
[17:02:35] Official Helpline: Has your issue been resolved?
[17:03:01] Miroslav W: not yet. but should be resolved now
[17:09:28] Official Helpline: Kindly follow their instructions
Second chat with "Binance Technical Team"
The cheater (s) do not know yet that this chat will not bring them any success. As a test, they are sent the answer, the down payment has just been launched. A screenshot and transaction details will be requested. At this point, it's time for another experiment: how does the other party react when they receive the message that the Bitcoin has been sent to an address other than the one it mentioned - allegedly to someone mentioned by another customer service in the chat room?
[17:28:28] Binance Technical Team: What are you saying
[17:28:42] Miroslav W: i just send it to [...]. had this adress in my copy and paste ?!
[17:30:19] Binance Technical Team: > Binance Technical Team
> 3DfxC6vWGkkvkG7Q2LR4wcM6UP7tjiNCe4. This is the address where you want to make the deposit. Can you provide a screenshot of the helpline that gave you the address
The cheater (s) learn that their chat partner has the feeling that they have fallen for a fraudster.
[17:32:33] Miroslav W: no ... I think I just got scammed. oh no!
[17:33:26] Binance Technical Team: Provide the chat of the helpline that scammed you
> Binance Technical Team
> 3DfxC6vWGkkvkG7Q2LR4wcM6UP7tjiNCe4
I told you this is the official unclogging address
[17:34:59] Miroslav W: I know I know. My fault. Now someone has the money. I think I'll need a break now. I'll come back to you later
In short, sympathy is faked. Very short - then it should finally go to the exception of the victim.
[17:35:13] Binance Technical Team: Okay. Hello. Sorry about that
[17:53:50] Miroslav W: Thanks
[18:01:11] Binance Technical Team: Are you ready to proceed
After a (futile) plea to the other side, verifying itself as a serious helper - for example, by money from an official Binance address money is sent - is the end of the chat in the room. It suddenly says that it can not be ruled out that all crypto money is lost.
[18:31:08] Miroslav W: Then I just wait until the problems go away, I assume you are working on them in the next days
[19:43:53] Binance Technical Team: Okay. I am afraid you might eventually lose your funds totally
Third chat with "Binance Technical Team"
The next morning, the "Technical Team" account receives a test message that the expected payout has now arrived. One last hint that the problem might come back after all, the account can not resist.
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
[09:00:55] Miroslav W: Good news: The 4000 EUR withdrawal finally got through last night. Thanks for your help.
[09:01:12] Binance Technical Team: You are welcome.
Your account was synchronized temporarily.
The issue might still occur again
If it is clear from the outset that fraudsters are on the other hand, such protocols are quite entertaining. But how about this knowledge? Would you be so sovereign or cheeky, if in trouble, what will be 5000 euros, which should have been long on your own account? Especially in the face of disturbing industry news like QuadrigaCX?
Support with a bad reputation
Apparently the help departments of many crypto exchanges are working too slowly: there are numerous support horror stories on the net. In some cases there is talk of several weeks of waiting per request. The user problems are manifold and - from their point of view, after all, it's about money - always urgent.
For fraudsters, it opens up opportunities when stock market clients are so nervous or annoyed that they spread their problems into forums, chat groups or social networks. The possibility, as with traditional banks simply to run into the next branch, there is usually not.
This should be considered by beginners who have bought digital coins
1. Decide who should take care of your coins.
Optionally, you can manage your coins on your own responsibility - with a so-called wallet - or on a crypto exchange. The advantage of the stock exchange solution: You do not need to worry about digital purses and can quickly convert your coins into dollars and sometimes also into euros.
The Risk: If the stock market loses coins, perhaps because it is stolen by criminal hackers, your credit may be irretrievably gone - you have no direct access to the coins. Even if a stock market is temporarily offline or unavailable, your crypto assets are out of reach.
2. You choose the stock exchange? Then use their security measures.
If you leave your coins or a part of them on a stock exchange, you should not make it easy for thieves to grab your credit. Choose a strong password and enable additional safeguards such as two-factor authentication, so every log-in or check-out needs to be reconfirmed by another device.
Coinbase, for example, also offers the option of transferring coins into a so-called vault: If you want to withdraw coins from this subaccount, two previously selected e-mail addresses must agree to the transaction and 48 hours must pass before the transaction is executed.
Otherwise: Do not give anyone access to your account. And be extra cautious about someone actively calling or calling someone and claiming he works for the support of a stock exchange.
3. Do not fall for fake stock market websites.
When you visit a stock exchange, always make sure that you are really on the right website, with secure HTTPS connection. Time and again, fraudsters send phishing links to lure users into replicated stock exchange pages: for example, they can tap into log-in data.
It is best to bookmark the official pages of the exchanges you are using and do not click on links sent to you by e-mail. Such links quickly overlook the fact that an Internet address, for example, has a speller. And some scammers have even better ideas.
4. Do you manage your coins yourself? Then careful.
If you take your coins away from a stock exchange, you are responsible from this point. You should know what you are doing. Above all, avoid giving your seed to someone who is unwilling, voluntarily or involuntarily - the virtual key to your digital wallet. Often you can even access your balance from the outside with this string of words or phrases. For referrals, no one else needs to know your seed.
Many wallets offer the option to create this key locally offline, which is safer than using online generators that do not know if the data is being stored. In the beginning of 2018, some Iota holders lost their credit.
When managing your coins, so-called hardware wallets can be helpful - but these devices are not outrageous either.
5. You should have the seed ready when in doubt.
You should not forget or lose your seed, otherwise you will lose access to your coins. Many Bitcoin investors of the first years lost their credit. In general, Seeds runs the risk of underestimating your own memory because it is a string that you rarely type in.
Keep your seed well, preferably on the other side of the computer. You can write it on paper or even save it digitally, such as on a USB stick or a DVD. You can still digitally encrypt the file. Depending on the amount of credit, you should dedicate close relatives - just in case something happens to you.
6. Keep the software up to date on your PC.
All caution is of little use if your seed or log-in for the crypto exchange is captured by a hack of your computer, such as a keylogger Trojan that logs your input.
Therefore, make sure that your computer and also your smartphone are well protected against attacks: Install updates in good time, throw in the everyday life largely useless, but prone to problems software such as Adobe Flash Player from the computer. And it's best not to do your crypto business on a stock exchange in a browser full of plug-ins where you do not know exactly what they can do.
7. Learn about the peculiarities of your cryptocurrencies.
"Do you know one, all know": This does not necessarily apply to crypto currencies. Even if you buy new coins every now and then and transfer them back and forth, you should not be tempted to not even inform yourself about the peculiarities or problems of those currencies. If you open and use an iota wallet, you should know, for example, that an address is no longer safe once you have transferred iota from there.
You should always be careful when transferring coins from a stock exchange to a wallet. Therefore, try the transaction first with a small percentage of your coins.
8. Do not fall for fraud.
Also in the crypto scene nobody usually has money, or in this case coins, to give away. In any case, you should know a well-known Twitter scam: when, for example, Charlie Lee, who is committed to the Litecoin currency, post something, they often find posts by other users with a similar name and the same profile picture.
The offer of this supposed Charlie Lee: If you send him some Litecoin, you get back a lot of them. Such offers are of course nonsense, your transferred coins are gone in doubt. Similar fake deals are also available with Bitcoin, Ether and other digital currencies.
Coinbase, the most well-known crypto exchange besides Binance, has problems with fraudsters who want to exempt their customers - disguised as employees. Steve Sokolowski of the cryptographic company Prohashing criticized Reddit at the end of October that Coinbase support was so bad that criminals could get in contact faster: "I think if Coinbase reacted to their tickets faster, this problem could be mitigated or eliminated."
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was self-critical about support - in summer 2017, long before Sokolowski's rage. "We're saving client funds, and I can understand how incredibly frustrating (and frightening) it is when a problem occurs and you can not get a quick response," Armstrong wrote in a blog post.
Steve Sokolowski was written down on Reddit himself by scammers in the fall: they encouraged him to play software on his computer that gives third parties remote access - another common way of excluding users. The alleged offer of help had reached him "without delay," says Sokolowski the SPIEGEL.
Customer service never contacts first
The detection of false helpers complicates the fact that on platforms like Telegram and Reddit even real representatives of crypto exchanges are involved: Sometimes it actually brings something to announce its displeasure there.
By Binance it says on SPIEGEL demand on telegram administrators and so-called Binance Angels are on the way, moderate the conversations and also help. The admins would point out to the users that they would never contact the real Binance support first by direct message.
For the big stock exchanges, the fraud problem is ungrateful, as it could jeopardize their image as comparatively reputable trading venues. Therefore, among other things, warnings on the websites ("We would not ask you to send us money") is trying to draw attention to the mesh.
In the German Binance group, there is a bot, the new users initially two security test questions:
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Test questions of the Binance Community Bots
Also Manuel Schmitt answered the questions of the bot correctly: But then he quickly repressed what he had read shortly before.
Supposedly a secure service
The question of whether it makes sense to use Telegram as an official communication channel, has to put up with Binance, precisely because it is relatively easy to forge identities on Telegram. Binance writes to the SPIEGEL that Telegram is "safer than a mass-market messenger". There are different opinions. Meanwhile Coinbase states on its website that it is not represented on Telegram, but on Reddit, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao was recently notified on Twitter of a fake Binance employee profile on LinkedIn. He replied that more than 500 members of the careers network would be posing as Binance employees. "Learn to deal with scams," Changpeng Zhao wrote, as well as: "And welcome to the world of freedom .... lol."
There are 500+ people on LinkedIn claiming to be Binance, while we only have 20 people who make their profiles public. Learn to deal with scams, and welcome to the world of freedom ... lol.
- CZ Binance (@cz_binance) 9 February 2019Wolf Brandes of the consumer center Hesse is familiar with online scams. He especially advises Krypton users to be careful when someone actively chats or calls them. And he suggests to take care when choosing the crypto exchange: "If there are problems, it can be very difficult for providers from abroad to enforce their own rights," says Brandes the SPIEGEL.
Incidentally, Manuel Schmitt's just under 5,000 euros have now been credited to his account - the payout ultimately only took much longer than usual. From real Binance Jersey support Schmitt received a few days later, still a response, he says: It said that the payout would now be imminent.
In short, users keep complaining about too slow responses from crypto-support departments - and put their worries on the web. This makes them a target for criminals posing as customer service representatives of the stock exchanges and trying to exempt users. Anyone who is actively contacted by an employee should therefore be extremely cautious - and never divulge his access data or transmit crypto-money to solve a problem. Some security tips for crypto beginners can be found here.