Crypto Hack: 250 UK Victims Fall For Fake Bybit Demo Account Scam

UK victims lose $650K to fake Bybit Demo Accounts: Crypto Scammers Tagged as ‘Ape 31’ Continue Investigations by Blockchain Accountant ZachXBT. More than 250 UK customers fell for the fake Bybit demo account scam involving the Ape 31 scammer and lost $650k. Ape 31 once again evaded capture due to frequently changing deposit addresses, which makes it hard to track down the stolen money. A total of 2024 crypto heists took place in the year, resulting in $409 million in losses where Bybit, BingX, and Banana Gun are among them.

In the past few months, there was a major crypto hack in the UK in which more than 250 individuals lost money and the hackers squatted $650,000. Instead of using its actual platform, such as Bybit platform for trading, the scheme employed demo accounts to lure the unsuspecting participants into the scam and give them a chance at getting lots of money. Ape 31 is still changing the deposit addresses; as a result, it becomes hard to recover the lost funds.

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250 UK Victims Fall for Fake Bybit Demo Account

Blockchain expert ZachXBT revealed the crypto hack details and came up with 16 deposit addresses that belong to the scam exchanges. The addresses in a year received money from more than 250 victims and even embezzled around $650,000. The scammers made the victims believe they were dealing with Bybit demo accounts, but in reality, they faked them.

One of the main issues found with this crypto hack is that Ape 31 frequently changes deposit addresses and therefore it is unclear how massive this entire operation is in total. The total stolen money could be much higher as pointed out by ZachXBT since the scammer has been operating discreetly. He has thus shared his findings with the police with a view of apprehending the movements of Ape 31 and preventing further devastation.

Apart from the fake Bybit demo account, Ape 31 also attempted to conduct the OTC fake crypto trade. The scammer lured a would-be prey into an instant video call using the guise that there was a formal transaction offer to complete. 

However, they recorded the call, and they aired that clipping for the public, where other scam victims identified the voice. These recordings are as per the blockchain expert related to Ape 31 and many other scams involving the first crypto steal.

Wider Crypto Hack Trends: BingX and Banana Gun Incidents

The Bybit demo account scam the blockchain expert has warned the public about is part of a wave of increased crypto hacks in the sector. Earlier this year, hackers attacked the BingX exchange and made away with over $43 million worth of altcoins. The owner of this crypto hack was also savvy in turning this stolen stuff into Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Coin (BNB), thus, making attempts to recover such money futile. The hack of BingX is one of the biggest attacks seen in the last few months only.

Again, the Banana Gun protocol was hacked, and $3 million was taken from the project. On a more cheerful note, the Banana Gun team has agreed to return all the 11 victims demanded amount from their treasury. 

These events also show that the cases of hacking and scamming in the cryptocurrency markets continue to rise, and can affect both centralized and decentralized markets. From the Immunefi data, the crypto-related attacks led to the loss of $409 million such beacons during the third quarter of 2024.