Analysts at BitMEX Analysis have raised the alarm a couple of rip-off focusing on early Bitcoin holders, notably these with wallets relationship again to 2011.
In keeping with the agency, the rip-off seems to use long-dormant addresses by injecting false transactions and deceptive messages through OP_Return outputs, an optionally available subject in Bitcoin transactions that may carry arbitrary knowledge.
In a single documented case, the scammers focused the well-known “1Feex” pockets, which holds round 80,000 BTC believed to have been stolen from Mt. Gox. The attackers crafted a message that hyperlinks victims to a fraudulent web site impersonating the defunct Wall Avenue agency Salomon Brothers.
The faux web site presents a authorized discover claiming the pockets is “misplaced or deserted.” It then invitations supposed homeowners to show their declare by signing an on-chain message utilizing the personal key or submitting private documentation by means of an online contact kind. If no response is acquired by Oct. 5, the discover states, the pockets can be deemed legally deserted.
Pretend authorized claims
BitMEX warned that the web site reveals no credible hyperlink to the actual Salomon Brothers or its former management. Whereas the location shows a listing of actual people who as soon as labored on the agency, none seem like related to this new and sure fraudulent entity.
The platform described the strategy as paying homage to an earlier rip-off related to controversial figures like Calvin Ayre, who beforehand funded authorized motion involving the identical Bitcoin tackle.
BitMEX Analysis said:
“The hyperlinks between this firm and this web site are faux. There’s a web page with an “advisory board” that comprises actual individuals who labored at Salomon Brothers within the Nineteen Eighties, nonetheless, these individuals appear to have no hyperlink to this new spurious entity.”
Group members have additionally weighed in, noting that official pockets homeowners may merely transfer a small quantity of BTC to show exercise moderately than transferring the total stability.
This has additionally led many to suspect the marketing campaign is a part of a broader social engineering rip-off effort designed to assemble delicate info beneath a authorized pretext.
BitMEX emphasised that customers shouldn’t work together with the contact kind or present private particulars.
The emergence of those scams illustrates the rising complexity of crypto-related fraud. Within the first half of 2025 alone, hackers stole over $2.1 billion throughout 75 separate incidents, a ten% rise in comparison with the identical interval in 2024.