According to a study by analyst Harry Danley on Medium, the scammers managed to lure more than 200 users into a useless airdrop, through which their extension was spread. NoCoin downloaded 230 times before Google removed the program from public access. The incident was another addition to the EtherscamDB database developed by Danley.
One less scam
It is noteworthy that the criminals tried to disguise NoCoin under an extension aimed at combating hidden mining.
First, the program worked as it was supposed to work - it found different scripts for hidden mining. The extension also provided a “clear” user interface that diligently reported on the fight against fraudsters.
Not the best intentions were hiding behind the beautiful shell - at some point NoCoin demanded entering private keys from MyEtherWallet and Blockchain.com. Hackers, using the gullibility of their victims, devastated their wallets.
"Promotion" NoCoin provided airdrome useless ERC-20 tokens. On the coin distribution page there was a link to the extension, which was followed by at least 230 people. How long the program has remained in public access is not yet known.
Extortion and phishing attacks begin to rapidly lose their popularity among hackers. They are switching to hidden mining, because in this way they manage to secure an easy and long-term source of passive income. Even smartphone users become victims of scammers.
Do not forget to be careful when using hardware wallets. Recently, the main competitor Trezor revealed several critical vulnerabilities in the manufacturer's devices.
