Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), the Chinese state-backed stablecoin (CBDC), is undergoing a public trial in some cities of Shenzhen province. However, this fact has not prevented scammers from announcing an "investing" campaign and selling DCEPs right now.
Scammers invite crypto holders to create DCEP wallets
Phishing resource "Official DCEP Coin," recently discovered by CryptoComes, is offering a wide range of services related to not-yet-launched Chinese DCEPs. Crypto enthusiasts can set up a "DCEP" wallet, buy some coins and even invest in a fast-growing "Bitcoin-like" currency.
Needless to say, all of these services simply cannot be delivered in real life. Moreover, the question is still open regarding the "Bitcoin-like" or "Ethereum-like" essence of DCEP.
Obviously, the Chinese government can be the one and only "investor" behind its own stablecoin. Also, at press time, there are no DCEPs in circulation.
All services of this website are available for registered users only. Thus, blatant password hijacking may be its only real mission.
Is this scam sophisticated?
In a nutshell, it is not. The website has an awkward design, its language is very poor and it contains numerous mistakes. The vast majority of the links on the site do not work. Some data on the website states that it might have been used for scams focused on Facebook's Libra audience.
However, scammers managed to upload some legitimate documents related to the DCEP project, as well as video and text content from reliable media outlets.
According to the publicly available "whois-service," the domain was registered in Lithuania in January 2020 and is set to expire on Jan 15, 2021. Its creators indicated Shanghai's Pudong region—a sprawling, sparsely populated area with amusement parks—as its Google Maps location.
CryptoComes reiterates that crypto users should be vigilant of DCEP scams and should not send money to anyone pretending to be a representative of this project.
