Fraudsters have discovered new uses for AI. The idea is to create a custom chatbot that pretends to be a real AI assistant and pressures victims into purchasing worthless cryptocurrencies.
We recently discovered a live “Google Coin” pre-sale site featuring a chatbot claiming to be Google’s Gemini AI assistant. The bot lured visitors with a sophisticated sales pitch, answered investment questions, predicted returns, and ended with the victim sending an irrevocable cryptocurrency payment to the scammer.
Google has no cryptocurrency. But “Google Coin” has appeared in scams before, and anyone checking it might think it’s real. And the chatbot was very persuasive.
AI as a closer
The chatbot introduced itself as follows:
“Gemini — the AI assistant for the Google Coin platform.”
It used Gemini-style branding, including glowing icons and a green “online” status indicator, which instantly created the impression that it was an official Google product.
When asked, “Will I become rich if I buy 100 coins?” the bot responded with a concrete financial prediction. The company claimed that a $395 investment at current pre-sale prices would be worth $2,755 at listing, representing “approximately 7x” growth. It said the pre-sale price was $3.95 per token and the expected listing price was $27.55, prompting further questions about “how to participate.”
This is personalized, responsive engagement that once required a human impostor on the other end of a Telegram chat. Now AI does it automatically.
A personality that never collapses
What stood out during our analysis was how tightly controlled the bot’s persona was. I found out the following:
- Consistently claims to be “official helper of Google Coin platform”
- Refuse to provide verifiable company details, such as registered entity, regulator, license number, audit firm, official email address
- Ignored concerns and led to vague claims about “transparency” and “security”
- Refusal to acknowledge scenarios where the project may be a scam
- I redirected tougher questions to an anonymous “manager” (presumably a human closer waiting behind the scenes).
When pressed, the bot doesn’t get confused or break character. It loops back to the same scripted claims of a “detailed roadmap to 2026,” “military-grade encryption,” “AI integration,” and a “growing investor community.”
The person who built this chatbot locked it into a sales script designed to build trust, overcome doubt, and lead visitors to one outcome: sending cryptocurrency.
Why AI chatbots are changing the fraud model
Scammers have always relied on social engineering. Build trust. Creates urgency. Overcome your skepticism. Close the transaction.
Traditionally, this required a human operator, which limited the number of victims that could be dealt with at once. AI chatbots completely eliminate that bottleneck.
With a single scam, you can now deploy chatbots that:
- Engage with hundreds of visitors at the same time, 24 hours a day
- Deliver a consistent, polished message that sounds authoritative
- Impersonate a trusted branded AI assistant (in this case Google’s Gemini)
- Answer personalized questions with customized financial forecasts
- Escalates to a human operator only when necessary
This is consistent with broader trends identified by researchers. According to Chainalies, approximately 60% of all funds flowing into cryptocurrency fraud wallets were linked to fraudsters using AI tools. AI-powered fraud infrastructure is becoming the norm rather than the exception. Chatbots are just one part of a broader AI-assisted fraud toolkit, but they can be the most effective because they create the illusion of a genuine, interactive relationship between the victim and the “brand.”
Bait: Sophisticated Fake
Chatbots sit on top of convincing deception. The Google Coin website mimics Google’s visual identity with a clean, professional design featuring a “G” logo, navigation menu, and presale dashboard. The company claims to be in “Stage 5/5” with over 9.9 million tokens sold and a listing date of February 18th, but this is all created on short notice.
To lend credibility, the site displays logos of major companies such as OpenAI, Google, Binance, Squarespace, Coinbase, and SpaceX under the banner “Trusted By Industry.” None of these companies have anything to do with this project.
When a visitor clicks “Buy,” they are taken to a wallet dashboard that looks like a legitimate crypto platform, displaying their “Google” (on the fictitious “Google Chain”), Bitcoin, and Ethereum balances.
The purchase flow allows users to purchase as many tokens as they want and generate a Bitcoin payment request corresponding to a specific wallet address. The site also incorporates a tiered bonus system that starts with 100 tokens and scales up to 100,000 tokens. With further purchases, the bonus increases from 5% to 30% at the top level. This is a classic upsell tactic designed to trick you into thinking it’s smarter to spend more.
All payments are irreversible. There are no exchange listings, no tokens with real value, and no way to get your money back.
What to watch out for
We are entering an era where the first point of contact for a scam may not be human. AI chatbots offer scammers something they never had before. It’s a tireless, consistent, and scalable front end that makes victims feel like a real conversation. The effect becomes even more convincing when the chatbot is disguised as the official AI assistant of a trusted brand.
According to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel data, U.S. consumers reported losing $5.7 billion to investment fraud in 2024 (more than any other type of fraud and a 24% increase from the previous year). Cryptocurrency continues to be the second most popular payment method used by scammers to withdraw funds due to fast and irreversible transactions. Now add in AI that can sell, persuade, and handle objections without a human operator, and you have a scalable fraud model.
AI chatbots on fraudulent sites will become more common. Here’s how to find them:
They impersonate known AI brands. A chatbot that calls itself “Gemini,” “ChatGPT,” or “Copilot” on a third-party cryptocurrency site is almost certainly not what its name suggests. Anyone can give their chatbot any name they want.
They don’t answer due diligence questions. Ask which legal entity operates the platform, which financial regulator oversees the platform, or where the company is registered. Legitimate operations can answer these questions, but fraudulent bots try to avoid them (and confirm if they answer them).
They predict tangible benefits. There are no legitimate investment products that promise a specific future price. The chatbot that says $395 becomes $2,755 isn’t providing financial information, it’s running a script.
They create urgency. Pressure tactics such as “Stage 5 is almost over,” “Listing date is near,” and “Limited presale” are designed to encourage quick decision-making.
how to protect yourself
Google has no cryptocurrency. Presale has not started. Also, the company’s Gemini AI is not acting as a sales assistant on third-party cryptocurrency sites. If you come across anything that suggests otherwise, please close the tab.
- Please check the claims on the official website of the referenced company.
- Don’t rely on chatbot branding. Anyone can name their bot whatever they want.
- Do not transfer cryptocurrencies based on expected returns.
- Please search the project name with “scam” or “reviews” before sending money.
- Use web protection tools like Malwarebytes Browser Guard. It is free to use and blocks known and unknown fraudulent sites.
If you have already transferred funds, report it to your local law enforcement agency, the FTC (reportfraud.ftc.gov), and the FBI’s IC3 (ic3.gov).
IOC
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