How scammers use bitcoin as a new mode of payments (2020)

Its 2020 and Scammers are losing their easy way to steal money from Microsoft Computer users. Before the mode of payments were e-cheques, Fake account transfers, Gift cards and etc. And as these popular ways of stealing is becoming harder ad harder due to awareness and companies tightening their policies, Scammer has come up with a new way to steal your money and it's more dangerous than ever.

How scammers use bitcoin as a new mode of payments (2020) 

Well, this is the new way they have developed where the script is the same, techniques are the same but, the mode of payment is different. 

Once again I went undercover to one of the fake Microsoft Tech support centers in New Delhi, India. This time in an office near Delhi University with 15 seater capacity and pretty lavish interior. To give you a shock this office was making 1 Million dollar + sales every month. 

Here is How scammers use bitcoin as a new mode of payment. 

1. Scamming Script 

The script that they use is pretty much the same, not much difference. If you want to know the detailed script read this article I wrote - Inside of a tech support. Each Agent (Scammer) gets approx 10 calls a day and the call flow starts at 5 PM IST. 

"Thank you for calling Microsoft, My name is XYZ how can I help you", this is how all the calls starts. The Agent does some probing and takes the remote of the victim and starts diagnosing the PC. 

2. Asking the victim to open internet banking 

Now after a few minutes of diagnosing and making a trust with the customer, the agent either makes the screen blank and opens up victims internet banking if they have the password and username pre-added on the browser. 

If not, The agent asks the customer to open up the internet banking page so he can install a security plugin inside the net banking application. 

Few Victims already trust the agent and do as they say. But, if the victim asks why they need to open it up the agent gives a very strong rebuttal. 

He opens up a window like this 👇

The victim is being told that there are few unwanted suspicious 3rd party people who are attached with victims identity and can access the computer anytime, referred to as foreign address in the above picture. To make personal information secure they need to add this plugin inside the baking page. 

And a 98% success rate in this trick. 

Now, the agent can see the baking information and how much money does he have and he takes a screenshot of every page providing him information about the funds. 

3. Conference call with the Bank 

After few minutes the victim is being told that there is a security breach happened on this computer and that's how Microsoft alerted the victim by giving him a freeze pop up so he can call and get the help immediately. And the hackers who have tried to breach the security are aiming at stealing the money. The Agent tells the victim he needs to connect the call with the victim's bank so he can secure the funds and asks for the toll-free number on the backside of the credit cards. 

A call is made on a conference line and as soon the Bank IVR is done and a bank representative is about to answer the calls, the scammer disconnects the call from his side and his colleague (another scammer) answers the call faking as the bank representative. 

4. Plotting the perfect scam scene 

Now, when the victim is talking to the Microsoft agent (1st scammer) and the Bank rep. (2nd scammer) he is totally trapped. If you remember the 1st agent took a screenshot of the victim's bank details!! Right, that will come handy now in this part. The bank rep. (2nd scammer) has Victim's account details, last transaction, Total funds in saving and check in's, and he repeats all this information to the victim to create a trust between the bank rep and victim. No way one can think that is a scammer he is talking to but a Bank rep. 

The Bank rep. tells the victim that there has been a security breach inside his bank account and a payment of $1000 to someone in Columbia and  $5000 is initiated toward a pornography website company in China. Obviously a made-up story. And if the victim wants he can stop these transactions. 

What would you do? tell him to stop right! The victim asks the bank rep. to stop these transactions and he does. He stops the payment for $1000 and a fake email is being sent to the victim about this payment hold. The victim is happy. The bank rep. tells the Victim about this 2nd transaction that he won't be able to stop this transaction because it is a pre-approved transaction by the victim. Maybe whosoever has hacked the victim has pre-approved this. 

The tension increases and bank rep. tells the victim that within the next 2 hours the payment will reach to that company and there is no way they can get it back for him. This is how the victim is completely trapped and is relying on the bank rep. he is talking to. 

5. A solution to save the victim.

A very intense environment is created between the victim and the scammers. $5000 is a huge amount and anyone can do anything to save it right! The victim asks the bank rep. if there is anything that can be done and the answer is this.

" Yes there is only one way to save your money. Once we deal with these money transfer issues you have to get your computer fixed by Microsoft because he thinks its hacked. I think if these hackers are able to send $5000 they might attack again and setal a larger amount next time. 

I will create a Virtual safe account for you which will be an encrypted temporary bank account. But that account is not free it costs $100 to get that safe account (This is just said to give value to this Virtual account). You need to go to your bank and withdraw all the money and put that money into a safe account, before its gone and you just have 1 hour to do this". 

An element of urgency/rush is added to this fake plot. There are 95% that the victim will follow these instructions. He goes to the Bank to withdraw all the cash while the scammer (Fake bank rep.) is with him on the call. He is being told that you are hacked and might be getting monitored too. So keep a low profile. 

6. The bitcoins

The Victim is asked to go to the nearest Bitcoin ATM, which is recommended by the scammer as he looks for the nearest Bitcoin ATM near to him and instructed to put all the cash into the machine using a Custom QR code. This code is the virtual safe account for the Victim, but the victim doest know he is sending all the money to the scammers. 

Sad but truth. All the money goes straight to the scammers without any trace to track it. 

This way I saw these centers making from $30000 to $1,00,000 in 1 night. Around 150 calls are distributed per night and 2 or 3 Victims are trapped into this scam. 

Microsoft Call gets converted into bank call and then into a bitcoin scam. Imagine someone losing all of his life savings. Most of these victims are 55 above and having very little knowledge about computers. After a big sale like $30,000 it is celebrated like an achievement in these centers. 

If you think this information is helpful please share it with your friends and write me at scamsalertinfo@gmail.com