Quick take:
- The XRP army has been targetted once again by scammers
- As with previous XRP scams, they promise community incentives and support for XRP holders
- The scammers are attempting to dupe XRP holders using Ripple-like websites and emails
- Ripple has requested XRP holders to be on the lookout for such fraudsters
- Ripple has not endorsed any XRP giveaway
Fraudsters are once again targetting the XRP community through an elaborate scam that promises incentives and support for XRP holders. According to the team at Ripple, the scammers are using a domain and email that tricks recipients into believing the giveaway is from the company.
Beware of the latest giveaway scam: there is a fake email and fraudulent website circulating offering “Community Incentive Programs” or “XRP Incentive Plans.” Neither Ripple, nor any executive of our company, has offered—or ever will offer—free giveaways of digital assets.
The team has further provided the following screenshot highlighting the fake website with an additional ‘.so’ which is not easy to detect.
Ripple CEO: Hackers are Using IDN Homograph Attacks
The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse also explained to investors that hackers were using ‘IDN homograph attacks’ to trick their victims. These types of attacks involve the use of look-alike domains such as the one above of ripple.com.so.
Additionally, hackers can play around with the letters of the alphabet and numbers to cause visual confusion. For example, RippIe.com with a capital ‘i’ rather than the letter ‘l’.
Good morning to everyone besides scammers defrauding people with fake XRP giveaways. Hackers are using IDN homograph attacks (e.g. capital I instead of lowercase l in ripple. com, etc) and these websites can stay up for months (despite reporting them) https://t.co/VdAp8BJc3W https://t.co/o3IRooNrzL
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) November 28, 2020
Ripple is Not Carrying Out Any Giveaway
In conclusion, the team at Ripple has explained that the company is not carrying out any XRP giveaway. They have also provided a link (below) for XRP investors to learn how to spot scams.
Any XRP giveaway is not endorsed by, affiliated with, maintained, authorized, or sponsored by our company [Ripple]. For tips on how to spot #scams, check out our blog here: on.ripple.com/3gADMQj
