I connected my wallet and all my XRP is gone!

We’ve launched a new token on the XRPL ledger!!!

$Newscam is the wave of the future in digitized news feeds worldwide where people just like you can utilize your mobile camera device to share your story with video and earn XRP tokens. Simply connect your XRP wallet and join the News Cam revolution by clicking HERE.

By the way, the link is not real. Neither is the token. Folks, as a prior law enforcement officer who specialized in online investigations ranging from fraudulent bank transactions and other fraud involving Western Union, Apple gift cards and many other means, I’ve personally spoken to victims of fraud who have lost their entire life savings due to creative scams that many criminals have devised over the years.

I have seen many new launches like this in various crypto networks, especially in the Solana network where just about anyone can launch a new token without having any technical knowledge or coding abilities.

It’s just a matter of time before many of these scammers will find ways to launch new tokens on the XRPL ledger and gain access to your XRP wallet and before you know it, leave you with zero XRP in your account.

I’m here to help educate people and provide insight on how best to protect yourself as much as possible and minimize the risk of becoming a victim. Don’t fall victim to the New Scam token ($newscam), even though we called it News Cam at the beginning.

Scammers have found ways to code software and contracts on various blockchain networks that appear to be legit, but are specifically designed to take everyone’s hard earned money.

With the advancements of social media, scammers now utilize apps like Telegram, X, Instagram and many more platforms to promote new launches or even existing tokens via text, paid advertising and even video, including AI created videos that are amazing.

There have been many instances where there is a legitimate and existing token, but someone else launches a similar token with the exact same name, same logo, links to exact same website and social media accounts as the original token, but the only difference is … the token address.

Let’s take $BXE token on the XRPL ledger as an example. The legitimate token has the partial address of BXErM1J2..y87r, while there happens to be another $BXE token with the partial address of BXErHFvT...deFz on the XRPL ledger as well. Full address is much longer, but you get the idea.

Why is that? Not saying that the second one could be scam, but it is possible that the creator of the second token holds the majority of circulating supply, which means that they have control of the token and can wait for as many people to purchase the incorrect token and then rug the coin (take as much profit as possible and cause a massive drop in market cap and liquidity) and everyone who purchased the wrong token loses the majority of their money. A simple type of scam that is common with meme coins.

Other developers have found ways of launching similar tokens (different token address), that have everything the same, but they have coded the token to prevent investors from swapping out. In other words, freezing all assets (allowing only purchases, but no sales) and then they rug the coin completely (taking everyone’s money).

But where the creativity really comes into play is that many of these scammers have learned to create links, websites and apps that look so real and are very difficult to distinguish from the real app or website and when you click on “Connect Wallet”, you get an error.

You think it may be a connection error and maybe try again and get the same thing or you believe that something may be wrong with the app or website. Wrong! The minute you clicked on “Connect Wallet”, the scammer gained access to your wallet and without your knowledge or permission, the code they wrote automatically and immediately transferred or sent all your XRP to a pre-created scam wallet. All your XRP is gone.

That’s right … all of it. Not just what you would have swapped into a single token (for example assuming you had 30 XRP, you swap 2 XRP for $BXE tokens and leave 28 XRP in your primary wallet, minus fees).

The difference between bank fraud and fraud with crypto is with bank fraud, you have the ability to dispute the charges with your bank or credit card company. Good luck trying to dispute anything with blockchain technology. It’s impossible. Nothing you can do.

Best practice is to never click on any link from any social media platform, blog or post, no matter how trustworthy you may think that person may be or how legitimate the post may seem.

I’ve seen links from Binance posts regarding the $BXE token that I’m guessing are legit, but to be honest with you … I don’t trust them.

They take you to the BanXchange.com website, but in my experience in law enforcement, I’ve seen many instances where scammers have been able to create websites that mimic the original, but the only difference is one character at the end that changes the domain address completely. (For example BanXchanger.com).

I’ve also seen where scammers have been able to create a mirror site and with proper coding tricks, have it display BanXchange.com in the address bar even though it’s a totally different domain. The only way to see the true website address was to copy the entire link from the address bar and paste it in a text application like notepad.

With the advancements in AI and video, it is scary what people can do. They not only create videos that seem so real, but they easily convince people to click on links that take you to websites and apps that look like the real thing, but are designed to scam you. Some don’t even take you to a website or app, they just say “Connect Your Wallet” and people do.

Think about the recent scam on YouTube involving an AI created video of Brad Garlinghouse (CEO or Ripple Labs) talking about XRP at an XRP convention. Many people fell victim to the free giveaway scam and lost all their XRP. Why? They clicked on a link to connect their wallet for the free giveaway.

Always go to the app or website (BanXchange.com, etc) you use to swap XRP (where you have to login), search for the token from within the platform, make sure you have the proper token address every time and complete the swap from within the platform.

Don’t trust free giveaways or any offers from people from any social media platform and most importantly, Stay safe!

About Joe:

Joe has specialized in protecting victims since his time of working Naval Intelligence during the first Persian Gulf War and during his 15 plus years of working in law enforcement, which included ten plus years working as an ICAC (Internet Crime Against Children) investigator in northern Colorado, where he specialized in tracking down criminals who victimized children … he is well-versed with the use of technology.

Joe has also owned several businesses over the years that specialized in business finance, marketing, lead generation and growth strategies, which includes an e-book he authored titled “Results-Based Premier Business Strategies to help you grow your business”.

Joe has been involved in Crypto for many years and has also fallen victim to some of the creative schemes designed by online scammers in the crypto arena and now shares his wealth of knowledge to help people minimize risk and loss.