Remove “Binance Airdrop” scam

The “Binance Airdrop” scam refers to a fake Binance airdrop hosted on claimairdrop-reflection.xyz. It goes without saying that the scam has nothing to do with Binance Holdings, the cryptocurrency exchange platform. Malicious actors are merely using the platform’s popularity to steal users’ money. The fake site invites users to claim the airdrop and asks them to connect their digital wallets. If users do, a cryptocurrency drainer is activated. The drainer will gradually steal all the funds in the wallet, possibly without users even noticing at first.

 

 

Scam sites imitating legitimate cryptocurrency platforms have become quite common recently. We have written about several, including the “Resolv Discord Verification” scam, the “Flare Airdrop” crypto scam, and the “Hinkal” crypto scam. The way these scams work is that malicious actors create sites imitating legitimate cryptocurrency platform websites, in this case, claimairdrop-reflection.xyz is imitating Binance’s site. They then launch extensive promotional campaigns promoting these scams. These scam sites invite users to participate in giveaways or claim airdrops and ask them to connect their digital wallets. If users fall for it and connect their wallets, they initiate a crypto drainer.

The site hosting this scam is claimairdrop-reflection.xyz, and its design closely resembles Binance’s legitimate site, which is binance.com. There may be other sites as well hosting this particular “Binance Airdrop” scam. The claimairdrop-reflection.xyz site has a “Claim Airdrop” button. If you were to click it, a pop-up would appear asking you to connect your digital wallet. If you do as the site asks and connect your wallet, you will initiate a crypto drainer that will transfer all the cryptocurrency in the wallet to accounts that belong to the malicious actors operating this scam. These transfers may happen over time, so you may not initially notice them.

Novice investors and less tech-savvy users are the prime targets for these types of crypto scams, as they tend not to double-check everything before investing or connecting their digital wallets.

Crypto scams are often promoted on social media platforms

In many instances, potential victims stumble upon links leading to websites hosting scams like the “Binance Airdrop” through a variety of social media platforms, comment sections on online forums, articles, and underneath videos on sites like YouTube. Scammers frequently exploit social media sites, with platforms such as X (formerly known as Twitter) and YouTube being prime venues for crypto scam campaign promotion.

A common tactic used by these malicious actors involves impersonating well-known figures in the cryptocurrency space, such as Elon Musk, who is widely recognized for his interest in various cryptocurrencies. The prevalence of this issue is especially notable on X, where the moderation is quite poor, allowing many crypto-related scams to be promoted with no issues. For instance, the comment sections of Musk’s tweets are often inundated with deceptive profiles that falsely claim he is conducting crypto giveaways or other promotional events. These impersonator profiles are often poorly done, but are convincing enough to trick less cautious users. YouTube also serves as a hotspot for cryptocurrency scams. Scammers hijack abandoned channels that have retained a relatively high number of subscribers, repurposing them to upload videos featuring Elon Musk or events associated with Tesla.