According to Cointelegraph, under the guise of "marketing, promotion, and customer search," sensitive information lists of participants in cryptocurrency industry activities have been illegally sold, becoming a data treasure trove coveted by fraudsters and malicious actors. These lists provide detailed records of participants' full names, phone numbers, nationalities, positions, affiliated companies, as well as personal and business social media links, which are often collected during the event registration process for conferences or sub venues. Cointelegraph obtained a list "sample" from a seller through Telegram, including four lists from different activities, each with approximately 60 to 100 participants and containing different data points. The events mostly take place in the autumn of 2024, with participants from multiple countries including Southeast Asia and India. This indicates the existence of organized international blockchain activity participants in data transactions.
These lists are just the tip of the iceberg, and the seller also shared other sample images related to Blockchain Fest and Devcon. Among them, a list reportedly containing 1700 attendees of the AIBC conference in Malta in November 2024 is particularly noteworthy. The seller stated that it will be "only available to a few people" and the opening price will be reduced from nearly $4000 to $650. The seller claimed to use the sales proceeds to purchase more listings and shared screenshots of the database. The identities of the seller and data compiler are anonymous, but both appear to be Russian. One of the sample datasets has labels named in Russian, and AI analysis also indicates that the seller is a native Russian speaker. These pieces of information may facilitate social engineering fraud and threaten the security of participants' cryptocurrency wallet funds.
