Crypto Scams Soar as Markets Hit New Heights 🚀💸

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Lo! The swindlers, those shadowy specters of the digital age, have seized upon the recent upswing in the cryptocurrency markets, their schemes growing bolder with each passing day, as the esteemed CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, doth warn. 🧙‍♂️💸

Garlinghouse, that paragon of caution, declared in a missive posted to X on Wednesday that the broader market rally hath spurred scammers to impersonate the official Ripple YouTube account, a trick as old as the hills but ever effective. 🎬🎭

Losses to crypto scams, that most insidious of plagues, have reached a new zenith of $2.1 billion in the first half of 2025, a sum that would make even the most avaricious of tsars weep with envy, surpassing the previous record of $2 billion set in 2022. 📉💸

XRP (XRP), that most elusive of digital phantoms, soared to $3.66 on July 18, drawing near to its 2018 high of $3.84 on Coinbase. Yet, even as the price wavers, the analysts, those seers of the market, foresee further ascent, though the last 24 hours have seen a 10% retreat to $3.19. 📈📉

Meanwhile, Bitcoin, that paragon of digital gold, has surged over 7% in the last fortnight, now fetching a price of over $119,000 per coin. Ether, that most volatile of creatures, has spiked a staggering 31% in the same period, now trading at $3,644 per token. 🏆💎

“Like clockwork, with success and market rallies, scammers ramp up their attacks on the crypto community PLEASE BEWARE of the latest scam targeting the XRP family on YouTube and impersonating Ripple’s official account!” exclaimed Garlinghouse, his voice echoing with the gravity of a prophet foretelling doom. 🧙‍♂️🚨

“We will keep reporting these – please do the same. As always, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” he added, a warning as timeless as the dawns of old. 📢

Scammers stealing accounts

The official Ripple account on X, that bastion of truth in a sea of deceit, has issued a reminder: “Ripple or our execs will NEVER ask you to send us XRP.” A sentiment as clear as the Moscow winter air. ❄️

An X user under the handle XtinaRP, that vigilant guardian of the digital realm, noted one of these scams was active as of Tuesday, promising a free XRP giveaway to ensnare the unwary. The video, cunningly, displays as sponsored by Ripple. 🤝💰

“This one looks very convincing. Scammers are using accounts with 176K subs to promote a fake 100M XRP event, Ripple will NEVER conduct giveaways. Stay cautious!” XtinaRP warned, their words as sharp as a dagger. ⚔️

The official Ripple account on YouTube has over 81,000 subscribers. YouTube, that enigmatic titan of the digital age, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 🤷‍♂️

Ripple sued YouTube over impersonators before

Ripple, that stalwart of the crypto realm, had previously sued YouTube over impersonators in April 2021, seeking damages and accusing the video-sharing site of profiting from the scammers. Yet, in a twist as unexpected as a sudden snowfall, the lawsuit was dropped in March 2021, with Garlinghouse declaring that the crypto firm and YouTube had reached a resolution and agreed to combat the scams together. ❄️🤝

Other crypto firms impersonated on Google too

Ripple isn’t the only crypto firm suffering from impersonators. Security firm Scam Sniffer, that vigilant guardian of the digital realm, has noted that several direct Google searches related to crypto companies now display scam ads at the top of the results. “A pro tip for DeFi users: Stop using Google search for crypto sites unless you enjoy playing Russian roulette with your wallet!” they admonish, their words as sharp as a dagger. 🎯💥

The bad actors, those masterminds of deception, employ the cunning technique of Punycode attacks, a spoofing method that exploits the display of internationalized domain names in web browsers to mimic the real website. A ruse as old as the hills, yet as effective as ever. 🧠💻

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2025-07-24 06:03