How AI Tracked 95,000 Crypto ‘Free Giveaway’ Schemes

Crypto and Twitter scams have met their digital match as a team of researchers hailing from San Diego State University in California unveils an ingenious artificial intelligence (AI) tool. 

Crafted with precision, this innovative system, which they call GiveawayScamHunter, is capable of ferreting out, monitoring, and laying bare the intricate web of free cryptocurrency giveaway scams sprawling across the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). 

Over the course of a year – spanning from June 2022 to June 2023 – this automated sentinel unearthed a staggering 95,111 scam lists, all meticulously concocted from the network of 87,617 accounts nestled within the folds of the social network.

Twitter Scam: Unearthing The Trove Of Deception

With a pioneering approach, the team harnessed the power of natural language processing, training a specialized tool on data culled from previously identified cryptocurrency giveaway scams. By doing so, they managed to sift through the labyrinth of information to pinpoint lists specifically linked to giveaway scams.

Employing the adept GiveawayScamHunter, the researchers executed autonomous data extraction, deftly uncovering website and wallet addresses intertwined with the scams.

This meticulous process bore fruit, yielding a haul of 327 scam giveaway internet domains and a trove of 121 previously unreported scam-associated cryptocurrency wallet addresses.

Bitcoin remains in the $29K territory. Chart: TradingView.com

Underlining the efficacy of their method, the researchers successfully unearthed nearly 100,000 instances of giveaway scam lists. This concerted effort not only unveiled the magnitude of the issue but also provided the means to compile crucial data on previously obscured scam websites and wallets, enhancing the ongoing fight against the burgeoning threat of cryptocurrency giveaway scams.

Bridging The Gap In Cryptocurrency Security

The researchers not only quantified the colossal scale of the issue but also embarked on a broader mission. Their findings, along with the implicated accounts, domains, and wallet addresses, were shared with both X and the vigilant crypto community.

Yet, amidst their efforts, a disheartening fact emerged from the shadows of the Twitter scam: a staggering 44% of the implicated accounts persisted in their malicious endeavors as of August 10.

According to the published paper, the researchers harnessed a trail of transactions linked to the scam cryptocurrency addresses. This trail led to a grim revelation—over 365 victims had fallen prey to the nefarious scheme, resulting in a heart-wrenching financial loss estimated at almost a million dollars.

With this trailblazing research, the team has not only exposed the scope of the threat but also highlighted the ongoing urgency to fortify the cryptocurrency landscape against the relentless tide of giveaway scams.

Featured image from LinkedIn