Analysts at BitMEX Analysis have raised the alarm a couple of rip-off focusing on early Bitcoin holders, notably these with wallets courting again to 2011.
In response to the agency, the rip-off seems to take advantage of long-dormant addresses by injecting false transactions and deceptive messages through OP_Return outputs, an non-compulsory subject in Bitcoin transactions that may carry arbitrary information.
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 pretend web site presents a authorized discover claiming the pockets is “misplaced or deserted.” It then invitations supposed house owners to show their declare by signing an on-chain message utilizing the non-public key or submitting private documentation via an internet 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 positioning shows a listing of actual people who as soon as labored on the agency, none look like related to this new and certain fraudulent entity.
The platform described the method as paying homage to an earlier rip-off related to controversial figures like Calvin Ayre, who beforehand funded authorized motion involving the identical Bitcoin deal with.
BitMEX Analysis said:
“The hyperlinks between this firm and this web site are pretend. There’s a web page with an “advisory board” that accommodates actual individuals who labored at Salomon Brothers within the Eighties, nonetheless, these folks appear to have no hyperlink to this new spurious entity.”
Neighborhood members have additionally weighed in, noting that professional pockets house owners may merely transfer a small quantity of BTC to show exercise slightly 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 below 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.
