Key Notes
- Morocco warned about a fake account impersonating Prime Minister Akhannouch to promote a fake cryptocurrency.
- Hong Kong also faced a scam with an account impersonating Chief Executive John Lee.
- Both governments urge citizens to trust only official channels to avoid scams.
The office of Morocco’s Head of Government issued a warning on March 5th regarding a fraudulent account on X (formerly Twitter), which has been impersonating Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch to promote a fake Moroccan cryptocurrency.
This account has been advertising non-existent digital currency and transactions, prompting the government to issue an official alert to safeguard citizens from potential scams. The government clarified that the only legitimate account for updates related to the Head of Government is @ChefGov_ma.
The warning comes just a day after Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), reported a separate fraud incident where scammers used fake media and artificial intelligence tools to impersonate the bank and its Governor.
Impersonation Scams Continue to Spread Globally
The rise of fake crypto accounts has been a growing issue worldwide, with a similar scam recently targeting Hong Kong . Authorities there issued a public alert after an X account impersonating Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu falsely claimed that the government was launching a “National Hong Kong Coin” on the Solana blockchain.
The fraudulent account claimed that the cryptocurrency would be launched at 02:00 PM Hong Kong Time (6:00 PM UTC), creating confusion and potential for fraud.
The Hong Kong scam mirrored the Moroccan situation in its use of a high-profile figure’s identity to mislead the public. In both cases, scammers sought to exploit the trust people have in their leaders, leveraging these fraudulent identities to promote fake digital currencies.
Hong Kong authorities quickly responded by discrediting the false claims and warning the public about the scam.
As these scams continue to spread, both Moroccan and Hong Kong authorities have urged citizens to remain vigilant and only trust official channels for updates on government initiatives.
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