Someone has been impersonating networking equipment giant TP-Link, pretending to have built a Wi-Fi router (opens in new tab) capable of mining cryptocurrencies with super high efficiency levels.
Among those that fell for the obvious scam was news wire service providers Accesswire, who published a press release from the alleged company, announcing the product.
In the press release, published in early March this year, the company says interested parties would now be able to order its “revolutionary” Mining Router, the NX31. The device, being advertised for $1,440, comes “loaded with features and perks that make it superior to competing miners”, and is “undoubtedly the greatest of its kind and will change the mining industry.”
If these words weren’t enough of a red flag to the readers, then there’s one even better – in two parts of the press release, the company has a different name. In the first sentence, it’s called “TP-Link ASIC”, while further below, it refers to itself as just “TP-Link”.
At the bottom of the press release is a website inviting interested parties to learn more about the product which, yet again, shows the company as “tplinkasic”.
Finally, representatives of the actual TP-Link responded to queries from Tom’s Hardware and confirmed that it’s not, in any way, affiliated with this product or has anything to do with it. The company is currently investigating the matter and looking to remove the fraudulent press release from newswire websites.
At the same time, looking at the frauders’ websites, besides the NX31 there is another “miner” they’re selling – the D11 Doge miner (Doge is a joke cryptocurrency and a fork of Bitcoin, often being promoted by Elon Musk), which is being advertised for $570.
The website does have a shopping cart, but at this time it’s impossible to know how many (if any) victims decided to try and purchase the devices.
Via: Tom’s Hardware (opens in new tab)