A gang of cheeky fraudsters has exploited the gullibility of some Apple fans, convincing them that Apple would give them vast quantities of cryptocurrency if they first deposited some. If only they had played MMORPGs like Runescape beforehand, they might have been more suspicious. You can find out how the whole story unfolded here on MeinMMO.
How did the fraudsters operate? At the launch event for the new iPhone 13, there was a live stream from Apple. This was meticulously replicated by brazen fraudsters, and the scammers managed to lure over 16,000 users to the stream.
An unbelievably good offer was made: Deposit crypto coins and Apple will double your money! But only while supplies last. Sounds like a sure thing, right?
“Double Money” trick known in many MMORPGs since EVE and Runescape
This is how the fraudsters’ trick worked in detail: To ensure that potential victims flocked to the fake stream in such large numbers, the fraudsters went to great lengths. There was even a landing site with Apple in the URL to make it appear truly legitimate. Additionally, the icons and the color scheme clearly matched the image that Apple users had from official Apple pages.
During the stream, it was revealed that Apple would be entering the crypto business and was therefore giving away 1,000 Bitcoins (!) to celebrate the occasion. As a reminder, that would be over 37 million euros at the current exchange rate (as of September 23, 2021)!
All one had to do was transfer their own Bitcoins (or Ethereum) to a specific eWallet. Then they would receive double the deposited amount back. But they should hurry, as hundreds of coins had already been given away!
As it seemed legitimate in the eyes of some viewers, a few gullible fans actually fell for it and donated a total of 1.48299884 Bitcoins to the fraudsters.
However, the ending was of course different, because after the stream ended, there was indeed nothing, and there was obviously no money. The fraudsters had pocketed the Bitcoins and vanished into the ether.
The duped fans had probably never played MMORPGs like Runescape or EVE Online; otherwise, they would have certainly noticed that this deal does not bode well.
How does the scam usually work in MMORPGs? In MMORPGs with open player economies, there are always fraudsters who exploit the greed and gullibility of fellow players. For instance, the “Doubling Money” scheme is well-known from the old-school MMORPG Runescape.
In this, a fraudster parks themselves on the marketplace and offers to double the money given to them beforehand. It’s said to be a glitch or something – all perfectly legitimate! Naive users are then lured in by first giving a small amount as proof.
They then indeed receive double the amount back. This can continue once or twice until the victim is completely overwhelmed by greed and donates a very large sum. Then, it usually goes “poof,” and the fraudster disappears along with the money and has logged out.
Such actions are, by the way, one reason why modern MMORPGs increasingly prohibit direct player trading, even though colleague Alexander Leitsch finds it bothersome.
How can you protect yourself from such malice? Here, common sense is really the only solution, along with the good old saying, “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is!”
In the given case, despite the elaborately forged website, it should have been somewhat clear that even Apple wouldn’t just hand out 40 million euros for free.
And above all – it’s never a good idea to deposit cryptocurrency into any anonymous accounts without any security.
And in case of doubt: If you play more classic MMORPGs, you are more likely to be warned about such things.
So much for the nasty scam of the scammers in the case of the iPhone reveal. You can find more cheeky scam stories here with us, including this curious case: FIFA 21: Scammers use 3,800 PS4 consoles to farm FUT currency.
