How to spot a fake "Merkl Incentives Campaign"

What is "Merkl Incentives Campaign" scam?

We have determined that it is a scam targeting cryptocurrency users. Our discovery of this scam occurred after we received a scam email. The goal is to trick unsuspecting individuals into taking actions that allow scammers to commit cryptocurrency theft. The associated website (and the promoting email) should be ignored.

"Merkl Incentives Campaign" scam in detail

The fraudulent email promoting this scam is presented as a notification from a blockchain rewards platform. It claims that the recipient has earned incentives from a recent on-chain campaign and encourages them to explore opportunities, view rewards, and access a dashboard to claim tokens.

The message states that the incentives were generated through recent wallet activity and provides a button ("View My Incentives" link) to view them. Clicking this link opens a fake Merkl website, app.merkl[.]online. Merkl (merkl.xyz) is a legitimate platform that offers an off-chain system for tracking user activity and calculating rewards based on campaign rules.

The fake site copies the appearance of the official one to appear legitimate. Its purpose is to trick visitors into disclosing their secret recovery phrases to "import their wallets". Providing this information on the scam site allows scammers to access cryptocurrency wallets.

Typically, this access is used to steal cryptocurrency (drain wallets) by transferring holdings to the wallets owned by fraudsters. In most situations, stolen cryptocurrency cannot be retrieved. Because crypto transactions are irreversible, funds sent to a scammer's wallet are permanently lost.

Therefore, it is highly advisable to thoroughly examine crypto platforms before sharing personal details, connecting wallets, making transactions, or taking any other action.

Conclusion

This scam uses a fake rewards notification to lure users to a fraudulent Merkl website designed to steal wallet recovery phrases. By impersonating a legitimate platform, the site tricks victims into giving scammers full access to their cryptocurrency wallets. Any funds stolen are permanently lost, so users should always verify crypto platforms before interacting with them.

More examples of crypto scams are "Claim $OOOO", "Pippin Token Airdrop", and "Claim Espresso (ESP) Scam".

How did I open a scam website?

The scam we reviewed is promoted through a fraudulent email that contains a link to a deceptive website. Scams can also be encountered through notifications from untrustworthy pages, deceptive ads, pop-ups, links, and buttons on dubious sites, and advertisements displayed by adware.

Rogue advertising networks often used on adult sites, pages offering illegal movie streaming, torrent sites, etc., can also direct users to scam pages. In other cases, fraudsters can send deceptive messages via social media to trick users into opening scam websites.

How to avoid visiting scam pages?

Download software exclusively from official websites or trusted app stores, and keep your operating system and applications up to date. Regularly scan your system with reputable security tools to identify and remove potential threats. When browsing the web, avoid clicking on ads, pop-ups, buttons, links, and deny notification requests from suspicious sites.

Also, do not trust unsolicited emails or other messages from unknown senders, and do not open attachments or follow links in messages of this kind. If your computer is already infected with unwanted apps, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate them.

The appearance of the scam website, app.merkl[.]online (GIF):

Text presented in "Merkl Incentives Campaign" scam email:

Subject: Merkl: Incentives from your recent campaign are now available

Explore opportunities

Browse opportunities, compare rewards, and earn tokens

Your Latest Campaign Incentives Are Ready

Your latest on-chain activity generated incentives across supported protocols.

They're now available in your dashboard.
View My Incentives

You're receiving this notification because your wallet participated in a recent Merkl-tracked campaign.

You can update your notification preferences anytime.

The original Merkl website (app.merkl.xyz):

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Quick menu:

• What is Fake Merkl Incentives Campaign website?
• How to identify a pop-up scam?
• How do pop-up scams work?
• How to remove fake pop-ups?
• How to prevent fake pop-ups?
• What to do if you fell for a pop-up scam?

How to identify a pop-up scam?

Pop-up windows with various fake messages are a common type of lures cybercriminals use. They collect sensitive personal data, trick Internet users into calling fake tech support numbers, subscribe to useless online services, invest in shady cryptocurrency schemes, etc.

While in the majority of cases these pop-ups don't infect users' devices with malware, they can cause direct monetary loss or could result in identity theft.

Cybercriminals strive to create their rogue pop-up windows to look trustworthy, however, scams typically have the following characteristics:

• Spelling mistakes and non-professional images - Closely inspect the information displayed in a pop-up. Spelling mistakes and unprofessional images could be a sign of a scam.
• Sense of urgency - Countdown timer with a couple of minutes on it, asking you to enter your personal information or subscribe to some online service.
• Statements that you won something - If you haven't participated in a lottery, online competition, etc., and you see a pop-up window stating that you won.
• Computer or mobile device scan - A pop-up window that scans your device and informs of detected issues - is undoubtedly a scam; webpages cannot perform such actions.
• Exclusivity - Pop-up windows stating that only you are given secret access to a financial scheme that can quickly make you rich.

Example of a pop-up scam:

How do pop-up scams work?

Cybercriminals and deceptive marketers usually use various advertising networks, search engine poisoning techniques, and shady websites to generate traffic to their pop-ups. Users land on their online lures after clicking on fake download buttons, using a torrent website, or simply clicking on an Internet search engine result.

Based on users' location and device information, they are presented with a scam pop-up. Lures presented in such pop-ups range from get-rich-quick schemes to fake virus scans.

How to remove fake pop-ups?

In most cases, pop-up scams do not infect users' devices with malware. If you encountered a scam pop-up, simply closing it should be enough. In some cases scam, pop-ups may be hard to close; in such cases - close your Internet browser and restart it.

In extremely rare cases, you might need to reset your Internet browser. For this, use our instructions explaining how to reset Internet browser settings.

How to prevent fake pop-ups?

To prevent seeing pop-up scams, you should visit only reputable websites. Torrent, Crack, free online movie streaming, YouTube video download, and other websites of similar reputation commonly redirect Internet users to pop-up scams.

To minimize the risk of encountering pop-up scams, you should keep your Internet browsers up-to-date and use reputable anti-malware application. For this purpose, we recommend Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.

What to do if you fell for a pop-up scam?

This depends on the type of scam that you fell for. Most commonly, pop-up scams try to trick users into sending money, giving away personal information, or giving access to one's device.

• If you sent money to scammers: You should contact your financial institution and explain that you were scammed. If informed promptly, there's a chance to get your money back.
• If you gave away your personal information: You should change your passwords and enable two-factor authentication in all online services that you use. Visit Federal Trade Commission to report identity theft and get personalized recovery steps.
• If you let scammers connect to your device: You should scan your computer with reputable anti-malware (we recommend Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows) - cyber criminals could have planted trojans, keyloggers, and other malware, don't use your computer until removing possible threats.
• Help other Internet users: report Internet scams to Federal Trade Commission.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is a crypto scam?

A cryptocurrency scam often masquerades as a legitimate platform to trick users into performing actions that put their funds or personal information at risk.

What is the purpose of a crypto scam?

The goal of these scammers is to pilfer cryptocurrency. They use deceptive tactics to obtain wallet details, run harmful tools, send crypto, or do anything else that lets them to steal crypto funds.

Why do I encounter scam websites?

Scams are typically delivered through fake emails linking to deceptive websites. Users may also encounter scams via untrustworthy notifications, misleading ads, pop-ups, or links on dubious sites, as well as through rogue ad networks on adult, streaming, or torrent sites. Fraudsters can also use social media messages to lure users to scam pages.

Will Combo Cleaner protect me from scams?

Combo Cleaner scans websites for risks, detects scams, and alerts users to potential dangers.