The Cardano Foundation — the organization behind major cryptocurrency Cardano (ADA) — warned that a suspicious firm is trying to rake in investments by claiming it has contacts with the foundation.
On July 9, the foundation stated that someone claiming to be from or contracted by crypto exchange BTCNEXT professes to personally know the Cardano core members as a way to reassure that investments will be safe.
A BTCNEXT representative told Cointelegraph that the person in question does not have any relationship with the company. In fact, she said that they are familiar with the individual behind the claims and that the firm is on bad terms with him.
Regardless, the Cardano Foundation makes plain that it has no links with the exchange:
“Neither the Cardano Foundation nor any of its ecosystem partners are in any way associated with BTCNEXT, and they are also not our partners of any sort.”
Cardano Foundation warns its community
The Cardano Foundation further advised the community to “beware of any suspicious claims and conduct thorough due diligence.” It also urged individuals to refrain from sending any data to third parties that claim partnership with its team or other entities in its ecosystem, stating, “We will never ask you to send your funds (assets) to us.”
The irreversible nature of cryptocurrency transactions makes crypto assets a popular choice among scammers, as in traditional financial systems, fraudsters have to take extra care to avoid transaction reversals or bank account bans.
A recent report by major crypto exchange Binance illustrates that scammers often go to great lengths to win the trust of investors. For instance, some scammers even create false "consumer organizations" that squeeze victims for even more funds after they become suspicious that the organization is a scam.