CipherTrace, a blockchain intelligence and analytics firm, has reported it had identified a surge of alerts within the cryptocurrency community over a malicious Chrome browser of a cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask. The scam imposter has its own website (maskmeha.io), which redirects to (installmetamask.com).
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As of press time, the both websites are not available, however, Google Ads still displays the scam website on top of the search results if a user searches for the MetaMask official website.
The imposter extension has first been reported on November 28, 2020, by Twitter user @dmazorosete who sought a response from MetaMask regarding the potentially fraudulent site.
CipherTrace says at least one cryptocurrency community instructed users to send tokens to the scam version of MetaMask. Shortly after, an official Twitter page of MetaMask warned users over a scam clone.
🎣🚨 Phishing warning? 🎣🚨@Google is allowing a phisher to buy sponsored ads on their search results. When using crypto, try to use direct links, and if you need to use search, watch out for sponsored links! pic.twitter.com/Fx4WArcH80
— MetaMask (@metamask_io) December 2, 2020
In October, MetaMask reached 1 million monthly active users for the first time. The growth of user base correlated with the decentralized finance (DeFi) boom.
Over the past year, MetaMask witnessed significant growth in the adoption of DAOs, Web3 games and the rapid consumer uptake of DeFi products.
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