Scam Detection Tool: Deceptive Google Advertising Campaign Redirects Cryptocurrency Users to Counterfeit Pudgy Penguins Website.
Blockchain security experts have discovered a new scam that involves the use of malicious Google ads to deceive cryptocurrency users into visiting a counterfeit Pudgy Penguins website.
Analysts at Scam Sniffer, a blockchain security firm, have issued a warning about this new scam, revealing that malicious actors are exploiting Google’s ad network to publish harmful ads.
According to the analysts’ explanation in a recent thread, these malicious ads contain suspicious JavaScript code that checks if the viewer possesses a cryptocurrency wallet. If a wallet is detected, the code redirects the user to a fake website that imitates the legitimate Pudgy Penguins website. Pudgy Penguins is a collection of 8,888 non-fungible tokens representing chubby cartoon penguins.
Once the user is redirected to the fake website, scammers can either steal personal information or entice victims into connecting their wallets, thereby granting unauthorized access to withdraw funds.
Although the current focus of this scam is Pudgy Penguins users, Scam Sniffer has cautioned that this method can easily be adapted to target other cryptocurrency projects. The security experts advise crypto investors to diligently verify website URLs in order to avoid falling victim to similar scams. To ensure safety, Scam Sniffer recommends employing ad blockers, considering a separate browser for web3 activities, and double-checking URLs before connecting a wallet.
This latest scam is part of a larger trend in which malicious actors exploit Google Ads to deceive cryptocurrency users. For example, scammers previously replicated the Revoke Cash recovery service by employing fraudulent ads that redirected users to a counterfeit site designed to steal funds. In another case, Google Ads were utilized to promote a fake version of the Whales Market crypto platform, redirecting users to a fraudulent site where their wallets were compromised.
