Bogus “free Bitcoin generator” offer leads to malware

The rising popularity of Bitcoin hasn’t gone unnoticed by online scammers, and according to ThreatTrack’s Chris Boyd, they have started tricking users into completing online surveys with promises of “free” Bitcoin generating software.

The offers are promulgated via Youtube videos, Pastebin posts, and promo sites, and when they explicitly state that to get the Bitcoin generator you will not have to complete a survey, you are asked to pay for a premium account in order to download the file.

Pastebin posts present a similar offer, urging users to download the free Bitcoin generator from a Mediafire account. The offer comes with a caveat: the author of the post is not the creator of the software – he is just a good soul that wants to help others earn some money.

Another scheme, where the files are hosted on MEGA, asks for users to solve some CAPTCHAs in order to be allowed to download the generator.

Needless to say, these files are not what they claim to be. Both in the Pastebin-hosted offer and the MEGA on, the file is a Trojan that currently has a rather low detection rate.

Users are advised to be wary of these offers, and not to let greed get the better of their judgement. A simple Google search of the name of the file in question (BitCoin_Generator_Tool_2013.exe) reveals that there a number of these schemes still up on YouTube.