A new wave of fraudulent activity has been recorded on the TRON blockchain — malicious actors are creating fake tokens impersonating the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and threatening users with asset freezing.
This is reported by Finway
New Phishing Scheme in TRON: How the Scam Works
Scammers are sending fake tokens to cryptocurrency wallet owners in the TRON network, mimicking official communications from the FBI. The text of these tokens, accessible through blockchain explorers, urges users to undergo “verification” according to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. Recipients are threatened that their wallets are allegedly under investigation, and failure to provide personal information will result in “complete asset freezing.”
The FBI has warned crypto asset owners against responding to such messages, emphasizing the risks of losing funds. These schemes pose particular danger to investors holding significant amounts in stablecoins on wallets in the TRON network.
“The FBI New York urges users of the Tron blockchain to exercise caution if they encounter a token purportedly from the FBI.”
The statement also highlights that no identification information should be disclosed on websites associated with dubious tokens. According to analytics, the recently created token has already been received by 728 wallets in the TRON network, some of which hold over $1 million in USDT stablecoins. This significantly increases the scale of potential losses from such a scam.
Use of Tokens in Manipulations and Investigations
In addition to phishing attacks, tokens in the TRON network are also used for more complex operations. For example, in 2024, Lookonchain analysts reported a case where the FBI created the NexFundAI token as a “bait” to detect market manipulations. On-chain investigations revealed that this token interacted with a wallet that had previously earned over $11 million through manipulations with the SAITAMA token. This demonstrates that tokens can be tools not only for fraud but also for monitoring or uncovering illegal activities.
The incident with fake tokens occurs against the backdrop of increasing risks associated with the use of the TRON network in dubious operations. Among the most notable cases:
- Sanctioned entities from Iran transferred over $1 billion in cryptocurrencies, primarily using USDT on the TRON network.
- The Bitrace report confirmed that the volume of illegal operations in stablecoins on the TRON and Ethereum blockchains exceeded $649 billion in 2024.
- As of May 2025, the number of transactions on the TRON network surpassed 10 billion, with daily transaction volumes reaching over 8 million.
In light of this, experts advise users to be particularly vigilant regarding any suspicious messages and not to disclose personal information in response to demands received from anonymous tokens on the blockchain.
