- The scammer managed to get remote access to the victims accounts by sending a fake notification.
- Later, he drained the account by liquidating millions worth of BTC and XLM in a matter of minutes.
Crypto scams in the market continue to loom with investors advised they remain alert. A Coinbase user recently suffered a massive loss north of $11 million after falling victim to one such scam. The user was a victim of a phishing scam wherein the hacker stole the entire sum in a matter of minutes.
The case dates back to April 2021, as per the recent complaint filed by the US Attorneys Office in Los Angeles. It so happened that just as the Coinbase user bought 200 Bitcoins, a notification popped up alerting them that their account has been locked. The scam notification appeared as if it was sent by Coinbase.
Related: Coinbase warns of a phishing scam that affected over 6,000 users
As per the federal investigators, the fake notification was the first step in the alleged fraud. The notification also carried a phone number requesting the user to contact Coinbase’s customer service. The user further proceeded on calling this number to rectify this matter.
As per the complaint filed, the hacker requested the user to make changes to their account’s security measures. However, one of the changes made provided the hacker with remote access to the account. Later, the scammer proceeded on increasing daily transaction limit while deactivating alerts and notifications.
Within moments, the scammer siphoned off $11.6 million in crypto or a staggering 206 Bitcoin from the user’s account along with Stellar (XLM). By the time the victim could realize, the money had moved out of the account.
The details of the fund transfer
The hacker transferred millions worth of Bitcoin and XLM through a series of transactions between different accounts. As per business Insider, nearly 10.2 BTC ended up in the Huobi Global Wallet.
Last month, a federal judge issued a warrant to regain more than $600,000 in BTC from a Huobi Global wallet. Tom Mrozek, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said:
Huobi agreed to keep the funds frozen pending a decision to proceed with the forfeiture.No one has been arrested or charged, but our investigation is ongoing.
Neither of the two big crypto exchanges – Huobi and Coinbase – have commented so far in the matter. The federal investigators are still working to resolve the case. Also, there have been no arrests or charges so far pertaining to the case. The investigators said that they will continue to work with the victim to recover the lost crypto. But there’s a high probability that the recovery of all the lost funds won’t be possible entirely.
Crypto scams are nothing new in the market. However, somthing of this magnitude that involves big players like Coinbase is something to watch for.
