Scammers are now using custom AI chatbots to impersonate real assistants and push victims into sending irreversible crypto payments, according to a cybersecurity firm.
Malwarebytes says it found a live “Google Coin” presale website featuring a chatbot that claimed to be Google’s Gemini AI assistant.
The bot walked visitors through a polished investment pitch, answered questions about returns and steered them toward paying a scam wallet.
Google does not have a cryptocurrency. But Malwarebytes notes that “Google Coin” has surfaced in scams before, and the site leaned hard on official-looking branding to feel legitimate.
The chatbot introduced itself as “Gemini — your AI assistant for the Google Coin platform.”
Malwarebytes says the bot used Gemini-style cues, including a sparkle icon and a green “Online” status indicator, to create the impression it was a real Google product. When a user asked if buying 100 coins would make them rich, the bot replied with specific projections.
It claimed a $395 purchase at a presale price of $3.95 per token would be worth $2,755 at listing, using an expected listing price of $27.55 and framing the outcome as “approximately 7x” growth.
Malwarebytes says that what stood out is how the bot stayed locked into a sales persona. It consistently presented itself as an “official helper,” refused to provide verifiable details like a registered entity or license, brushed off scam concerns with vague reassurances and redirected tougher questions to an unnamed “manager,” likely a human closer.
The company says this is a shift in how these operations scale. Personalized, responsive scam pressure used to require a human running chats on apps like Telegram. Now the AI can do it automatically, engaging many visitors at once and escalating only when needed.
Malwarebytes says the chatbot sat on top of a broader, polished setup. The “Google Coin” site mimicked Google’s look, displayed a presale dashboard claiming it was in “Stage 5 of 5,” and flashed manufactured urgency like a February 18th listing date and claims of more than 9.9 million tokens sold. It also displayed logos from major companies under a “Trusted By Industry” banner, despite having no connection to the project.
If a visitor clicked “Buy,” Malwarebytes says the flow generated a Bitcoin payment request to a specific wallet address. The site also dangled tiered bonuses starting at 100 tokens and rising up to 30% at the highest tier, an upsell tactic designed to push larger buys.
Malwarebytes warns the core risk is simple: the payment is irreversible, the token has no real value and there is no legitimate exchange listing to save the buyer after the fact.
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