DeepSeek Crypto Scam: China Raises The Alert

Chinese federal authorities have alerted the nation about a criminal group posing as DeepSeek Blockchain developers to conduct fraudulent activities.

The fraudsters claimed their platform was based on DeepSeek technology, promoting it as a safe and efficient investment opportunity.

DeepSeek attracted attention due to its artificial intelligence model, which performed comparable to OpenAI in several benchmark tests, but at a lower cost.

The Chinese government said the hype generated attracted many investors eager to make a profit. Scammers took advantage of this momentum by launching crowdfunding platforms to defraud investors.

According to Chinese authorities, victims were tricked into believing they could earn $1,379 using the platform. The scammers lured people with content costing $5.5, which promised to teach people how to write viral content. However, the course contained only four relevant pieces of information, while the rest of the material was already publicly available on the internet.

Another scheme involved the creation of fake monetisation training courses, with fees ranging from $41 to $55. These also turned out to be useless. In addition, to lend credibility to the scam, the criminals created fake DeepSeek communities, presenting them as official company groups.

After promoting advanced courses and supposed qualification parameters, the scammers introduced DeepSeek Coin, claiming it was backed by solid investments. This attracted additional investors, who eventually lost all their money.

Already in January, DeepSeek had denied any involvement in the cryptocurrency industry, stating:

"DeepSeek has not issued any cryptocurrency. There is currently only one official account on the Twitter platform. We will not contact anyone via other accounts. Please remain vigilant and watch out for possible scams."

DeepSeek Applications Infected by Malware

In addition to financial scams, many users have reported an increase in fake DeepSeek applications. According to authorities, cyber criminals are distributing malicious apps with names such as DeepSeek.APK, DeepSeek.msi and others. These apps pose a serious threat, as they can lead to personal data leaks.

Once installed, the app prompts the user to run an update containing malicious code. This code is able to access the system, stealing sensitive information such as messages and contacts. In some cases, the malware even prevented users from uninstalling the application.

Officials warned that with the growth of artificial intelligence-based applications such as DeepSeek, the risk of similar scams will increase. For this reason, users are urged to always check sources before downloading or interacting with potentially malware-infected applications.