{“lastseen”:”2026-02-18T12:05:10″,”description”:”Scammers have found a new use for AI: creating custom chatbots posing as real AI assistants to pressure victims into buying worthless cryptocurrencies.\\n\\nWe recently came across a live \\”Google Coin\\” presale site featuring a chatbot that claimed to be Google’s Gemini AI assistant. The bot guided visitors through a polished sales pitch, answered their questions about investment, projecting returns, and ultimately ended with victims sending an irreversible crypto payment to the scammers.\\n\\nGoogle does not have a cryptocurrency. But as \u201cGoogle Coin\u201d has appeared before in scams, anyone checking it out might think it\u2019s real. And the chatbot was very convincing.\\n\\n\\n\\n## AI as the closer\\n\\nThe chatbot introduced itself as,\\n\\n\\u003e \\”Gemini \u2014 your AI assistant for the Google Coin platform.\\”\\n\\nIt used Gemini-style branding, including the sparkle icon and a green \\”Online\\” status indicator, creating the immediate impression that it was an official Google product.\\n\\nWhen asked, \\”Will I get rich if I buy 100 coins?\\”, the bot responded with specific financial projections. A $395 investment at the current presale price would be worth $2,755 at listing, it claimed, representing \\”approximately 7x\\” growth. It cited a presale price of $3.95 per token, an expected listing price of $27.55, and invited further questions about \\”how to participate.\\”\\n\\nThis is the kind of personalized, responsive engagement that used to require a human scammer on the other end of a Telegram chat. Now the AI does it automatically.\\n\\n\\n\\n## A persona that never breaks\\n\\nWhat stood out during our analysis was how tightly controlled the bot\u2019s persona was. We found that it:\\n\\n * Claimed consistently to be \\”the official helper for the Google Coin platform\\”\\n * Refused to provide any verifiable company details, such as a registered entity, regulator, license number, audit firm, or official email address\\n * Dismissed concerns and redirected them to vague claims about \u201ctransparency\u201d and \u201csecurity\\”\\n * Refused to acknowledge any scenario in which the project could be a scam\\n * Redirected tougher questions to an unnamed \\”manager\\” (likely a human closer waiting in the wings)\\n\\n\\n\\nWhen pressed, the bot doesn’t get confused or break character. It loops back to the same scripted claims: a \\”detailed 2026 roadmap,\\” \\”military-grade encryption,\\” \\”AI integration,\\” and a \\”growing community of investors.\\”\\n\\nWhoever built this chatbot locked it into a sales script designed to build trust, overcome doubt, and move visitors toward one outcome: sending cryptocurrency.\\n\\n\\n\\n## Why AI chatbots change the scam model\\n\\nScammers have always relied on social engineering. Build trust. Create urgency. Overcome skepticism. Close the deal.\\n\\nTraditionally, that required human operators, which limited how many victims could be engaged at once. AI chatbots remove that bottleneck entirely.\\n\\nA single scam operation can now deploy a chatbot that:\\n\\n * Engages hundreds of visitors simultaneously, 24 hours a day\\n * Delivers consistent, polished messaging that sounds authoritative\\n * Impersonates a trusted brand’s AI assistant (in this case, Google’s Gemini)\\n * Responds to individual questions with tailored financial projections\\n * Escalates to human operators only when necessary\\n\\n\\n\\nThis matches a broader trend identified by researchers. According to Chainalysis, roughly 60% of all funds flowing into crypto scam wallets were tied to scammers using AI tools. AI-powered scam infrastructure is becoming the norm, not the exception. The chatbot is just one piece of a broader AI-assisted fraud toolkit\u2014but it may be the most effective piece, because it creates the illusion of a real, interactive relationship between the victim and the \\”brand.\\”\\n\\n## The bait: a polished fake\\n\\nThe chatbot sits on top of a convincing scam operation. The Google Coin website mimics Google’s visual identity with a clean, professional design, complete with the \\”G\\” logo, navigation menus, and a presale dashboard. It claims to be in \\”Stage 5 of 5\\” with over 9.9 million tokens sold and a listing date of February 18\u2014all manufactured urgency.\\n\\nTo borrow credibility, the site displays logos of major companies\u2014OpenAI, Google, Binance, Squarespace, Coinbase, and SpaceX\u2014under a \\”Trusted By Industry\\” banner. None of these companies have any connection to the project.\\n\\nIf a visitor clicks \\”Buy,\\” they’re taken to a wallet dashboard that looks like a legitimate crypto platform, showing balances for \\”Google\\” (on a fictional \\”Google-Chain\\”), Bitcoin, and Ethereum.\\n\\nThe purchase flow lets users buy any number of tokens they want and generates a corresponding Bitcoin payment request to a specific wallet address. The site also layers on a tiered bonus system that kicks in at 100 tokens and scales up to 100,000: buy more and the bonuses climb from 5% up to 30% at the top tier. It’s a classic upsell tactic designed to make you think it\u2019s smarter to spend more.\\n\\nEvery payment is irreversible. There is no exchange listing, no token with real value, and no way to get your money back.\\n\\n\\n\\n## What to watch for\\n\\nWe’re entering an era where the first point of contact in a scam may not be a human at all. AI chatbots give scammers something they’ve never had before: a tireless, consistent, scalable front-end that can engage victims in what feels like a real conversation. When that chatbot is dressed up as a trusted brand’s official AI assistant, the effect is even more convincing.\\n\\nAccording to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel data, US consumers reported losing $5.7 billion to investment scams in 2024 (more than any other type of fraud, and up 24% on the previous year). Cryptocurrency remains the second-largest payment method scammers use to extract funds, because transactions are fast and irreversible. Now add AI that can pitch, persuade, and handle objections without a human operator\u2014and you have a scalable fraud model.\\n\\nAI chatbots on scam sites will become more common. Here’s how to spot them:\\n\\n**They impersonate known AI brands.** A chatbot calling itself \\”Gemini,\\” \\”ChatGPT,\\” or \\”Copilot\\” on a third-party crypto site is almost certainly not what it claims to be. Anyone can name a chatbot anything.\\n\\n**They won ‘t answer due diligence questions.** Ask what legal entity operates the platform, what financial regulator oversees it, or where the company is registered. Legitimate operations can answer those questions, scam bots try to avoid them (and if they do answer, verify it).\\n\\n**They project specific returns.** No legitimate investment product promises a specific future price. A chatbot telling you that your $395 will become $2,755 is not giving you financial information\u2014it’s running a script.\\n\\n**They create urgency.** Pressure tactics like, \u201cstage 5 ends soon,\\” \\”listing date approaching,\\” \\”limited presale\\” are designed to push you into making fast decisions.\\n\\n## How to protect yourself\\n\\nGoogle does not have a cryptocurrency. It has not launched a presale. And its Gemini AI is not operating as a sales assistant on third-party crypto sites. If you encounter anything suggesting otherwise, close the tab.\\n\\n * Verify claim on the official website of the company being referenced.\\n * Don’t rely on a chatbot\u2019s branding. Anyone can name a bot anything.\\n * Never send cryptocurrency based on projected returns.\\n * Search the project name along with \u201cscam\u201d or \u201creview\u201d before sending any money.\\n * Use web protection tools like Malwarebytes Browser Guard, which is free to use and blocks known and unknown scam sites.\\n\\n\\n\\nIf you’ve already sent funds, report it to your local law enforcement, the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, and the FBI’s IC3 at ic3.gov.\\n\\n## IOCs\\n\\n`0xEc7a42609D5CC9aF7a3dBa66823C5f9E5764d6DA`\\n\\n`98388xymWKS6EgYSC9baFuQkCpE8rYsnScV4L5Vu8jt`\\n\\n`DHyDmJdr9hjDUH5kcNjeyfzonyeBt19g6G`\\n\\n`TWqzJ9sF1w9aWwMevq4b15KkJgAFTfH5im`\\n\\n`bc1qw0yfcp8pevzvwp2zrz4pu3vuygnwvl6mstlnh6 `\\n\\n`r9BHQMUdSgM8iFKXaGiZ3hhXz5SyLDxupY`\\n\\n* * *\\n\\n**We don ‘t just report on scams\u2014we help detect them**\\n\\nCybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. If something looks dodgy to you, check if it’s a scam using Malwarebytes Scam Guard. Submit a screenshot, paste suspicious content, or share a link, text or phone number, and we\u2019ll tell you if it’s a scam or legit. Available with Malwarebytes Premium Security for all your devices, and in the Malwarebytes app for iOS and Android.”,”published”:”2026-02-18T10:10:49″,”modified”:”2026-02-18T10:10:49″,”type”:”malwarebytes”,”title”:”Scammers use fake \u201cGemini\u201d AI chatbot to sell fake \u201cGoogle Coin\u201d”,”source”:””,”references”:””,”id”:”MALWAREBYTES:35279BE53D2993C09A31A29DECB73C14″,”bulletinFamily”:”blog”,”cwe”:null,”cvelist”:[],”sourceData”:””,”sourceHref”:””,”cvss”:{“score”:0,”severity”:”NONE”,”vector”:”NONE”,”version”:”NONE”},”cvss2″:{},”cvss3″:{“version”:””,”vectorString”:””,”baseScore”:0,”baseSeverity”:””,”attackVector”:””,”attackComplexity”:””,”privilegesRequired”:””,”userInteraction”:””,”scope”:””,”confidentialityImpact”:””,”integrityImpact”:””,”availabilityImpact”:””,”cvssV3″:{“version”:””,”vectorString”:””,”baseScore”:0,”baseSeverity”:””,”attackVector”:””,”attackComplexity”:””,”privilegesRequired”:””,”userInteraction”:””,”scope”:””,”confidentialityImpact”:””,”integrityImpact”:””,”availabilityImpact”:””}},”href”:”https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/blog\/ai\/2026\/02\/scammers-use-fake-gemini-ai-chatbot-to-sell-fake-google-coin”,”category_name”:”News”,”post_link”:””,”product”:””,”version”:””,”vendor”:””,”ai_description”:””,”ai_severity”:””,”ai_vendor”:””,”ai_product”:””,”ai_version”:””,”ai_score”:0}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{“lastseen”:”2026-02-18T12:05:10″,”description”:”Scammers have found a new use for AI: creating custom chatbots posing as real AI assistants to pressure victims into buying worthless cryptocurrencies.\\n\\nWe recently came…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,8,12,115,13,33,7,11,5],"class_list":["post-41307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-category_news","tag-cve","tag-cvss","tag-exploit","tag-malwarebytes","tag-news","tag-none","tag-security","tag-tapic","tag-vulnerability"],"yoast_head":"\n