As a seasoned analyst with years of experience in navigating the complex and rapidly evolving world of cryptocurrencies, I have seen my fair share of scams and fraudulent activities. The recent incident involving the fake Uniswap Unichain website is yet another reminder of the importance of vigilance and due diligence when dealing with new projects in this space.
With growing excitement about Uniswap’s Ethereum layer 2 development, fraudsters are seizing the opportunity to mislead people by creating a counterfeit website on Google, falsely claiming it supports the network.
Initially based at unlchalindefi[.]com, the site advertised itself as the authentic platform for Uniswap’s Unichain system. However, upon closer inspection, it failed to deliver on its promise of launching a novel network equipped with intuitive applications.
Rather than keeping the user’s cryptocurrency for itself, it clandestinely moved all of the user’s digital currency to the unrelated developers of another site, as indicated by alerts shown within the MetaMask web3 wallet, which is not connected with Uniswap in any way.
While the article was being composed, the site went offline, suggesting that its host might have uncovered the fraudulent activities and chose to discontinue service. Nevertheless, the strategy employed in this scam serves as a reminder of potential hazards that Web3 users should be cautious about to safeguard their assets.
On October 10th, Uniswap Labs, the team behind Uniswap, unveiled a test network for an upcoming Ethereum layer 2 solution called “Unichain.” This forthcoming network is expected to include a block-building protocol that promises transactions to be processed as if they take only 250 milliseconds. Furthermore, it will enable effortless cross-chain trading, enabling traders to tap into larger liquidity pools and minimize slippage issues.
The post, found on the Uniswap’s official blog located at Uniswap.org, revealed that a mainnet for Unichain would be released “this year” later on. For now, only a testing network (testnet) is being launched right away.
On the day of the announcement, Uniswap Labs unveiled a dedicated website for the new network at Unichain.org. Nevertheless, in the following days, this site didn’t make it to the top of Google search results when searching for “Unichain,” as it was outshone by a more widely-read blog post announcement.
It appears that the con artists saw an opening due to the original website’s low domain credibility. They crafted a replica of the site, with some subtle differences: instead of “get started,” there was a “connect” button, and where “read the docs” should have been, they placed a “bridge” button.
Afterward, they opted to buy ads from Google, which positioned their site at the forefront of Google search listings, complete with a note that the site’s position was “sponsored.” The advertisement showcased the legitimate Unichain website’s URL, but if users clicked on it, they were redirected to the counterfeit site’s URL instead.
After Google took down the misleading ad, the original blog post reclaimed its position at the forefront of search results. Since the genuine Unichain site was absent from search results during that period, the deception might have been tricky for users to discern, particularly those who were pressed for time.
On October 15, the blockchain analysis tool Scam Sniffer uncovered misleading search results and subsequently reported this finding on X.
Our CryptoMoon team inspected a suspected fraudulent website and application using an empty digital wallet. When we clicked “connect,” as expected, the site asked for wallet access. But once approved, it bombarded us with transaction confirmation requests. If we declined, it instantly resubmitted the same transaction back to our wallet. The only way to halt this harassment was to shut down the browser window.
When connecting using MetaMask, each transaction contained a warning from Blockaid stating, “This is a deceptive request. If you approve this request, a third party known for scams will take all of your assets.”
As an analyst, I observed that the fraudulent activity was swiftly dismantled, suggesting that the perpetrators might not have had the chance to empty any digital wallets in this instance. Regardless, the method used serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerability Web3 users face when it comes to safeguarding their funds.
It’s generally advisable for Web3 users to avoid clicking ads for protocols within Google, because such ads can frequently be fake sites that have found ways to bypass the search engine’s safety measures. Furthermore, when dealing with a fresh web application, it’s crucial to thoroughly examine transactions before approving them, as scammers commonly rely on users blindly clicking ‘confirm’ without careful consideration.
A potentially harmful transaction was found trying to invoke a function at an address that ends in ‘a0000’. It’s important to note that this specific account has previously been involved with multiple accounts flagged as “Fake_Phishing” by Etherscan, suggesting that engaging with it is highly dangerous due to its association with phishing scams.
Based on the information provided by Unichain’s documents, its current stage of development is primarily in a testing network (testnet). Consequently, users can only transfer funds into it from other test networks like Sepolia. If any website asserts that users can bridge funds from the main network to Unichain at this moment, it’s likely a fraudulent claim.
According to the statement made by Uniswap, they plan to debut their main network later in the current year. Once launched, users will have the ability to transfer their assets from various other networks onto this new platform.
Despite Google’s persistent efforts to enhance filters and combat them, misleading Google ads for fraudulent blockchain protocols have consistently posed a significant risk to Web3 users. In December alone, a report from Scam Sniffer revealed that cybercriminals managed to swindle approximately $59 million from users over a nine-month period through such tactics.
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2024-10-15 17:38