Cybercriminals Impersonate Silk Road Founder in Telegram Scam

[yhiaali3]

According to PANews, IBC Group's founder and CEO, Mario Nawfal, has issued a warning about cybercriminals impersonating Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht on the X platform. Security firm vx-underground has detected that these criminals are luring users into a Telegram scam, which infects devices with malware. This 'Click-Fix' attack tricks victims into running PowerShell scripts, leading to data theft and potential ransomware attacks. This surge in cybercrime activity follows U.S. President Donald Trump's recent pardon of Ulbricht, prompting a new wave of scams associated with his name. Users are advised to be cautious of fake accounts and Telegram 'verification' scams.

https://www.binance.com/en-ZA/square/post/01-26-2025-cybercriminals-impersonate-silk-road-founder-in-telegram-scam-19463994242458

Ross Ulbricht has been the talk of the town since Trump’s decision to release him, and now this new scam where attackers are exploiting his name and fame to prey on their victims.

Honestly, I still don’t understand the real reason why Trump released him? Do you think Trump will be criticized by his opponents in Congress for releasing Ross and thus Trump may find it difficult to get the votes needed to pass his decisions regarding Crypto?

[TomPluz]

As anything that is popular and most especially connected with the cryptocurrency industry, we can all be sure that there will be scammers and hackers that will take advantage of it and so what they are doing with the name of Ross Ulbricht is for them just another day of doing business in the multi-billion enterprise of fooling people. Now, as to the pardon granted by Trump, that is one of the many things he promised to the crypto and Libertarian community so he is just fulfilling it, besides Ross has already been in prison for 11 years and for me it would be enough to change his course and mindset. Of course, there will be those who did not like what Trump's decision but for now they could not go against the current of Trump's power and popularity so they better just go silent and wait for some years more maybe near the 2028 election and made noise again, most especially since ex-president Biden of the Democrats made many controversial pardons himself before his term officially ended, even involving his own family so the score is now even.

[ABCbits]

Honestly, I still don’t understand the real reason why Trump released him?

Isn't it because there's relative high amount of people who support Ross to be freed due to various reason (e.g. very excessive sentence)?

Do you think Trump will be criticized by his opponents in Congress for releasing Ross and thus Trump may find it difficult to get the votes needed to pass his decisions regarding Crypto?

Probably no. But i expect Trump will have hard time regardless due to other more controversial executive orders he signed.

[Freemind]

The reason Trump granted a pardon to Ulbricht is because he needed that step to attract the vote of the almost one million cryptocurrency users in the United States. There is no other reason. Trump was able to do it during his first term in the White House between 2017 and 2021, he just didn't do it because then Trump said that Bitcoin was a threat to the dollar and that he didn't need the votes. That has led many voters to believe that Trump would do many things for the crypto community. His and his wife's tokens have generated a lot of profits for them

[NotATether]

What kind of idiot would fall for a deepfake of Dread Pirate Roberts?

Are people really that dumb?

Most of the Silk Road dark web customer base was people who took their safety and opsec very seriously, so this makes me believe that it's just a bunch of people who *think* they can beat the scam or something like that.

[Freemind]

What kind of idiot would fall for a deepfake of Dread Pirate Roberts?

Are people really that dumb?

Most of the Silk Road dark web customer base was people who took their safety and opsec very seriously, so this makes me believe that it's just a bunch of people who *think* they can beat the scam or something like that.

Remember when people sent their cryptocurrencies to an address expecting to receive double the amount sent?. I haven't seen that type of scam anywhere in years, but scammers probably still use it and there are probably people who still fall for it. Greed and the desire to be the first in something lucrative do not allow many people to think clearly.

Yes, there are such idiot people in the world.

[yhiaali3]

most especially since ex-president Biden of the Democrats made many controversial pardons himself before his term officially ended, even involving his own family so the score is now even.

I think Trump did this mainly to take revenge on Biden as he stated that the same idiots who arrested Ross were the ones who issued a warrant against him.

This is what I find strange, I did not expect that things in the United States are done the same way as things are done in third world countries, it turned out that it is the same thing where the president can issue a pardon for anyone related to him or close to him or to take revenge on the opposition party.

Probably no. But i expect Trump will have hard time regardless due to other more controversial executive orders he signed.

Yes, this is what I expect as well, Trump basically has a hard time and there are many who do not like his decisions and therefore this incident can be used against him and against the decisions he wants to pass.

[Zed0X]

I feel old hearing about people still falling for impersonations that are common in telegram and other social media. I guess this proves how a simple oversight from people could lead to loss of wealth.

~
Honestly, I still don’t understand the real reason why Trump released him? Do you think Trump will be criticized by his opponents in Congress for releasing Ross and thus Trump may find it difficult to get the votes needed to pass his decisions regarding Crypto?

I think this deserves a separate topic. It's like the first part is on the right while this is going to the left Anyway, it's not a secret that he might pardon Ross during the campaign. Now that he's out, I doubt most members of the Congress are surprise.

[electronicash]

What kind of idiot would fall for a deepfake of Dread Pirate Roberts?

Are people really that dumb?

Most of the Silk Road dark web customer base was people who took their safety and opsec very seriously, so this makes me believe that it's just a bunch of people who *think* they can beat the scam or something like that.

Remember when people sent their cryptocurrencies to an address expecting to receive double the amount sent?. I haven't seen that type of scam anywhere in years, but scammers probably still use it and there are probably people who still fall for it. Greed and the desire to be the first in something lucrative do not allow many people to think clearly.

Yes, there are such idiot people in the world.

if they ever still can victimize someone that victim is really that idiot. even the doublers today are just not working anymore.

trump just want to prove to his followers  he can do all these for crypto. he could chose not to release Ross after all the guy really committed a crime but his case is easy to grant. if he just want to impress the crypto community, Ross pardon is nothing compare to the weight of other things he would do.

[Faisal2202]

Ross Ulbricht has been the talk of the town since Trump’s decision to release him, and now this new scam where attackers are exploiting his name and fame to prey on their victims.

Honestly, I still don’t understand the real reason why Trump released him? Do you think Trump will be criticized by his opponents in Congress for releasing Ross and thus Trump may find it difficult to get the votes needed to pass his decisions regarding Crypto?

Wait what! He has been released. why this news was not on treding, I came to know about it just now, well if he has been released, then that's a good thing, Either my memory is fading or it's really my first time hearing about this news. Well, whatever the news is good to me, as he was not guilty instead he was just a developer.

Overall, I don't think it will have any criticism of Trump, and speaking of the opposition, they will always stand against what he will do because that's what the opposition is for. Overall, I don't think there will be any problem for Trump due to this

[Z-tight]

Honestly, I still don’t understand the real reason why Trump released him? Do you think Trump will be criticized by his opponents in Congress for releasing Ross and thus Trump may find it difficult to get the votes needed to pass his decisions regarding Crypto?

Ross got two life sentences plus 40 years for a non-violent crime, that is absurd and such a setence should not be given for such a crime in the U.S.. I don't really like Donald Trump, but i support the pardon for Ross, it has also been established that weapons were not sold in the Silk Road.

However, you can't blame Donald Trump or Ross if people are so gullible to fall for cheap scams, it is on them.

[Rruchi man]

However, you can't blame Donald Trump or Ross if people are so gullible to fall for cheap scams, it is on them.

Some of these scams are no longer as cheap as they used to be, they now use sophisticated tools that are easier to access, and because many people are not aware of the technology that make these scam more possible they can become victim to it.

Exposure to information about trending technology can save you from a lot.

[bitterguy28]

Ross Ulbricht has been the talk of the town since Trump’s decision to release him, and now this new scam where attackers are exploiting his name and fame to prey on their victims.

we should have expected nothing less we know that when there is an opportunity people with bad intentions will always be the first one to take the chances

Honestly, I still don’t understand the real reason why Trump released him? Do you think Trump will be criticized by his opponents in Congress for releasing Ross and thus Trump may find it difficult to get the votes needed to pass his decisions regarding Crypto?

i do not think he will be criticized simply because the people in the government also have the same intentions and beliefs as trump

this move is political and it served him well so i think the rest of the politicians are happy to follow him and his decisions

[Gposas]

According to PANews, IBC Group's founder and CEO, Mario Nawfal, has issued a warning about cybercriminals impersonating Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht on the X platform. Security firm vx-underground has detected that these criminals are luring users into a Telegram scam, which infects devices with malware. This 'Click-Fix' attack tricks victims into running PowerShell scripts, leading to data theft and potential ransomware attacks. This surge in cybercrime activity follows U.S. President Donald Trump's recent pardon of Ulbricht, prompting a new wave of scams associated with his name. Users are advised to be cautious of fake accounts and Telegram 'verification' scams.

https://www.binance.com/en-ZA/square/post/01-26-2025-cybercriminals-impersonate-silk-road-founder-in-telegram-scam-19463994242458

Ross Ulbricht has been the talk of the town since Trump’s decision to release him, and now this new scam where attackers are exploiting his name and fame to prey on their victims.

Honestly, I still don’t understand the real reason why Trump released him? Do you think Trump will be criticized by his opponents in Congress for releasing Ross and thus Trump may find it difficult to get the votes needed to pass his decisions regarding Crypto?

I guess President Donald Trump is just trying to fulfill one of his promise made during his electoral campaign by releasing the Silk Road Founder, Ross Ulbricht. And besides fulfilling his promise, I believe there would be some other reasons for his release only best know to Donald Trump himself.

As for those scammers, it is something that would always happen, they are there to take advantage of any situation and it is always certain that victims will fall.
This occurs to novice and newbies in the Crypto space. Even the most common scams, victims still fall.

The reason of greed and Get-Rich-Quick syndrome will even make one to fall for a scam that is even obvious depending on how persuasive the scammer tends to be.

[Baofeng]

However, you can't blame Donald Trump or Ross if people are so gullible to fall for cheap scams, it is on them.

Some of these scams are no longer as cheap as they used to be, they now use sophisticated tools that are easier to access, and because many people are not aware of the technology that make these scam more possible they can become victim to it.

Exposure to information about trending technology can save you from a lot.

Yeah that is so true, they also made advancement as far as scamming people. But here, it's obvious that this is a scam attempt, the account doesn't look like  Ross himself so I do not know why people fall for it.

So in any case, we should all be very careful with this kind of attempts. And for me the best weapon is self-awareness, we should know or at least be reading opsec and how this cyber threat operates so what we can prevent it from making us the next victim.