Coordinated Network Exploits Political Fear to Fuel Cryptocurrency Scams

A recent investigation by on-chain investigator ZachXBT has uncovered a coordinated network of over 10 accounts that have been using the ongoing war in the Middle East as a catalyst for promoting cryptocurrency scams.

The scammers use a strategy of 'doomposting', where they purchase accounts with followers and post highly negative content multiple times per day, triggering engagement and boosting their posts' reach. They then repost this content from alternative accounts and promote fake giveaways or pump and dump schemes.

One of the key factors in the success of these scams is social engineering, as users tend to engage more with negative content than positive content. ZachXBT points out that large accounts have engaged with the posts in the comments section, unknowingly boosting their reach.

The investigation suggests that ten accounts in the monitored cluster promoted pump and dump crypto scams, with on-chain evidence indicating they profited six figures.