Malicious Chrome extension found re-routing Bitcoin

A Chrome extension called BitcoinWisdom Ads Remover has been stealing Bitcoins from users during transactions. According to the website of a Bitcoin exchange, BitStamp, the malicious extension is redirecting users to a different Bitcoin address instead of the original transaction page. The findings were confirmed by web apps developer Devon Weller, who said that the extension would control the source code of a web page and then replace the quick response code of a real destination with its own, so that Bitcoin payments were re-routed. BitcoinWisdom Ads Remover has now been removed from the Google Chrome Web Store.

A malicious Google Chrome extension has been stealing Bitcoins from users. (Representational image)

Mumbai: A Slovenia-based Bitcoin exchange portal has been warning users regarding a Google Chrome extension that has been stealing Bitcoins from users while making transfers.

Bitstamp, a US-based Bitcoin exchange portal, has pointed out that the name of the Chrome extension is BitcoinWisdom Ads Remover.

Accroding to Bitstamp’s website, the malicious extension is redirecting users to a different Bitcoin address instead of the original transaction page.

Bitcoin web app developer Devon Weller has also reaffirmed Bitstamp’s findings and said that that the extension was secretly replacing QR codes, according to the same report.

Users who are not familiar with the concept of Bitcoins, it is a method, which utilises QR codes for making payments or for transferring Bitcoins from one account to the other.

The report further pointed out that the BitcoinWisdom Ads Remover Chrome extension manipulated a web page’s source code and replaced the QR code of an actual payment destination with it’s own.

The extension has been removed from Google Chrome Web Store now, however, the extension has affected many user transactions in the past. Weller, during his investigation, also explained that the extension’s souce code only targets Bitstamp, BTC-E, and Hashnet Bitcoin services.