Typo in domain name leads to convincing phishing attack targeting US political circles

A Nigerian fraudster is accused of stealing $250,000 in cryptocurrency by impersonating a senior figure associated with Donald Trump's and J.D. Vance’s presidential inaugural committee, according to U.S. federal prosecutors.

The individual reportedly mimicked Steve Witkoff, co-chair of the Trump-Vance inaugural committee, and on December 24, 2024, sent a deceptive email from @t47lnaugural.com — subtly replacing the letter “i” in the real domain @t47inaugural.com with a lowercase “L”, which appears nearly identical in certain fonts.

Believing the email to be legitimate, the victim transferred 250,300 USDT.ETH, a dollar-pegged stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain, to a crypto wallet controlled by the scammer just two days later. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the FBI was able to trace the blockchain activity and recover $40,300 of the stolen funds, which are now subject to civil forfeiture.


AI, politics, and phishing: A new landscape for crypto fraud

Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, helped authorities freeze the stolen funds — part of a broader trend of cooperation in fighting crypto fraud. Last month, the company also supported a $225 million seizure related to a massive “pig butchering” investment scam involving multiple federal agencies.

Security experts say this scam represents a modern twist on an old tactic: phishing, updated for the crypto age. Criminals now exploit political figures and real-world events to build trust and urgency, making their scams more believable.

“This is pure opportunism — exploiting public trust, political sentiment, and the irreversible nature of crypto transactions,” said one crypto exchange CEO.

Experts warn that as AI and deepfake technologies improve, phishing schemes will become faster, more convincing, and scalable. Preventing these scams will require coordination among regulators, tech companies, financial institutions, and the crypto industry.

Another analyst noted that phishing remains the oldest trick in the book — still fooling victims across crypto, e-commerce, and online banking. Rather than hacking systems, scammers manipulate human emotion, triggering fear, greed, or FOMO.

While many blame cryptocurrencies themselves, security professionals point to traditional tools — like fake URLs and spoofed domains — that remain the backbone of most fraud. In legacy systems like VoIP and domain infrastructure, where KYC is weak, scammers continue to exploit these gaps just as they have for decades.




#Cryptoscam , #CyberSecurity , #PhishingAlert , #CryptoCrime , #CryptoNews


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