Scammers Target Super Bowl LVI Viewers with Cryptocurrency Giveaway Scam

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Key insights

• Scammers launched ads on social media targeting Super Bowl LVI viewers with a cryptocurrency giveaway scam.
• TRM Labs’ analysis indicates the scammers collected over $10,000 in combined Bitcoin and Ethereum from victims with accounts held at a U.S.-based exchange.

Last night the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI by staging a late fourth quarter comeback. While the Rams grabbed their second Super Bowl franchise win, millions of viewers experienced cryptocurrency-related advertisements on a major platform for the first time. Unfortunately, scammers sought to take advantage of this.

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How the scheme worked

Capitalizing on pre-game hype around crypto commercials set to run during the Super Bowl, scammers prepared a phishing website that fraudulently posed as the website of a legitimate US-based exchange running Super Bowl promotions. The scammers advertised this phishing website on social media, promoting a countdown clock claiming a giveaway amounting to 1,000 Bitcoin (BTC) and 20,000 Ethereum (ETH).

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TRM Labs’ analysis determined that by late on the evening of the 13th, the scam had netted over $10,000 USD worth of BTC and ETH. At the time of this post, the scammers have yet to move any of the scammed funds.

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TRM will continue to monitor the stolen funds and provide updates to our customers and partners, including exposure to wallets linked to the scam. Questions? investigations@trmlabs.com.