Bitcoin (BTC) scammers have begun to change their focus from cryptos and Bitcoin to prepaid debit cards. These scammers may be abandoning the cryptocurrency altogether to focus on extorting money via prepaid debit cards, according to a new study.

Kaspersky Lab, a cybersecurity company, revealed their findings in a blog post on December 16th. There they highlighted a growing trend in Brazil and other countries of hackers and scammers growing use of prepaid cards.

The international appeal of prepaid cards over Bitcoin

The appeal of prepaid cards over Bitcoin has become much more popular as of late. Especially in so-called “sextortion” scam where scammers demand their victim pay money to avoid compromising information about his or her private life going public. This money is then sent through a prepaid debit card to the scammer.

Kaspersky explains “The debit cards in this particular sextortion scheme are sold in Brazil and work with the Mastercard system,”. This means that money obtained through these prepaid cards can be spent anywhere Mastercard is accepted. Unlike Bitcoin which takes a bit more effort to spend.

The post continues: “One of the features of these cards is that they are usable not only in Brazil, but internationally as well. Perhaps that’s the feature that the cybercriminals in question are particularly interested in.”

Two photos of prepaid card to steal funds

The prepaid card scam works by scammers sending mass fake emails to thousands of individuals. There the scammer orders the recipients to purchase a prepaid card in a store, load it with funds and send a photograph of both sides. Once the scammer has all the details of the prepaid card, the hackers can then freely spend the funds however they wish.

It’s still open to discussion whether this new prepaid debit card trend in scamming will ultimately cause a complete loss of interest in using Bitcoin among scammers.

Kaspersky continued: “It is still too early to say if prepaid debit cards will supplant bitcoin as the new ransom currency of choice, or whether such messages are the exception rather than the rule,”.

In the meantime, crypto-related crime is still an immense threat to anyone users. Kaspersky identified in their annual summary a total of over 2.2 million devices targeted by malware since November 2018.

If you or anyone you know has fallen victim to any online fraud reach out to the most experienced fund recovery agency, Action Refund to get the help you need in order to recover your lost funds. Contact them at: Actionrefund.org

