Binance CEO Changpeng ’CZ’ Zhao has warned traders to be careful when accessing the CoinMarketCap website. He took to his Twitter page to intimate the general public of the ads popping up anytime they enter the website on google. According to CZ, anytime a person enters the website URL on google, there are search results in the form of ads that leads straight to phishing or scam websites. These websites are set up to scam users by tricking them into clicking malicious links.
CZ claims scam websites rank ahead of legitimate ones
Although Google claims it has beefed up its policies regarding advertisements on the platform, scammers are still having a field day. In the last few years, there have been cases of scam websites ranking higher in google searches, even legitimate sites. This is the same case that CZ warned the general public about in his recent tweet.
According to the Binance boss, the fake websites with the ad tag were showing at the top of his search, higher than the main CoinMarketCap website. One of those that will be grossly affected is users unknowingly adding their wallets to these fake websites. CZ claimed that he is still trying to reach Google about the issue and is still spreading awareness about it for now.
Scammers continue to use this modus operandi
CoinMarketCap is one of the biggest crypto aggregators worldwide, providing tons of data for almost all the digital assets in the market. Binance took over the company in 2020 after it was confirmed that a fee was paid. The reason for the outcry is that majority of the traders in the market rely on the aggregator and ranking scam websites at the top of searches, even if their ads will sway users into clicking on them instead of the real ones.
In some other cases, the websites could take a name similar to one of the original websites, making it for users to distinguish. According to CZ, one of the websites was spelled ‘coinomarketcaap.’ This is not the first time this scam will be uncovered in the crypto market. Some months ago, a Terra-related scam website was being run via ads on Google, targeting users in the market. Although the scam was caught earlier, it still went ahead to steal about $4 million from users in the market.
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/cz-warns-trader-phishing-sites-in-cmc-search/