Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Bitcoin spammers on the prowl

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Those who are active on social media, don't get carried away with the appreciation and praises by a stranger on your intelligence in solving a puzzle online and their invitation to invest in bitcoins.


This may be a trap, which may lead you to invest in murky businesses only to find in a big conundrum.


Authorities have warned people doing online transactions and spending time on social media not to share personal details, bank passwords, or any other secret codes to anyone posing to be from an institution.


"Do not share personal details, birthdays, banking details, passwords, or any other even if it's posing to be a call from a bank or any authority or it is an invitation to a lucrative business," a senior official from the Royal Oman Police (ROP) has said.


This update comes in the wake of a series of attempts where social media users have been lured to solve a seemingly difficult puzzle and inviting them to come to a personal chat room.


The user, bearing a woman's name, would then ask you if you knew what is bitcoin trade, instead of telling your answer was right or wrong.


The person would then convince you that bitcoin mining has helped a lot of people reach their financial dreams and make people reach their various business arms around the globe with the help of their agency.


"Incidents like this seem to be Ponzi scheme which is a fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors," says Khalfan al Ma'mari, an IT professional.


"The Ponzi scheme generates returns for early investors by acquiring new investors. This kind of offer is similar to a pyramid scheme in that both are based on using new investors' funds to pay the earlier backers," adds he.


Now, the person would ask you how much you collectively want to invest anything between USD 200 to USD 1,000 after convincing you of the returns that you are going to enjoy together.


"Such businesses are fake businesses from the first glance and one should either block, report spam or unfriend the person as soon as it happened", the official further clarified.


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