Binance’s CZ Laments the Lack of Authentication on LinkedIn
- Binance CEO CZ is one of the many crypto public figures to have been impersonated by scammers.
- Most crypto scams in 2021 took place on social media platforms.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, popularly called CZ, has lamented the lack of an identity verification system on the professional job site LinkedIn, which he believes has aided crypto scams on the networking platform.
In a series of tweets he shared with his over 6 million followers, Zhao claimed that LinkedIn has over 70,000 users who alleged to work for Binance, but only 50 are genuine staff of the crypto exchange. Zhao’s tweet was in response to another tweet by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin claiming he had no involvement with the more than 5000 fake accounts claiming to be him.
Warning his followers over the fake accounts, Zhao wrote,
I wished LinkedIn had a feature to let the company verify people. So, many “hey, I am responsible for listing” scammers on LinkedIn. Be careful.
Crypto scams involving Linkedin have grown in popularity in recent months. Most fraudsters impersonate high-profile individuals in the crypto market before making false offers to unsuspecting users. According to the United States Federal Trade Commission, half of the crypto scams recorded in 2021 took place on social media.
A report by the commission stated that more than $1 billion was lost to scammers throughout 2021, and those figures would most likely increase by the end of this year. According to the release by the commission, Instagram (32%), Facebook (26%), WhatsApp (9%), and Telegram (7%) were the most frequently used social media sites for crypto frauds.
However, many were surprised that Twitter, a popular platform amongst crypto users, was not mentioned in the list. Twitter is often filled with spam and fake giveaways and has an active community of crypto users.
According to the FTC, investment fraud and celebrity impersonation increased in 2021. Scams involving the purchase of counterfeit artwork, gemstones, and rare coins were also included in the list. The report read,
Of the reported crypto fraud losses that began on social media, most are investment scams. Indeed, since 2021, $575 million of all crypto fraud losses reported to the FTC were about bogus investment opportunities, far more than any other fraud type.
According to the report, people aged 20 to 49 were found to be the most likely to lose cryptocurrency to a scammer, while people in their 30s were the most affected.
The FTC went on to list several ways to detect and stay clear of crypto scams. According to the commission, only frauds promise huge returns or profits as no crypto investment is guaranteed to bring in funds. Additionally, people who request cryptocurrency or private documents on social media platforms are most likely to be fraudulent.
Lawrence has covered some exciting stories in his career as a journalist, he finds blockchain-related stories very intriguing. He believes Web3 will change the world and wants everyone to be a part of it.
