Alleged Crypto Scammer Posed As Coinbase Support To Steal $2M

Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT reported that an alleged scammer, identified as a "Canadian threat actor," stole over $2 million in cryptocurrency from Coinbase users over the past year by impersonating the exchange's support staff via social engineering scams, often conducted over Telegram.

The scammer reportedly used the stolen funds to purchase rare social media usernames, pay for bottle service, and gamble. ZachXBT tracked the individual by cross-referencing chat screenshots, social media posts, and wallet transactions, noting that the scammer frequently gloated about their lifestyle online, showing poor operational security (opsec).

To protect against such social engineering, users are advised to be vigilant about private data, use unique passwords, keep significant holdings in hardware wallets, and never click suspicious links or respond to cold calls. Legitimate support staff will never ask for seed phrases, login credentials, or redirect conversations to external apps like Telegram.

(Source：Cointelegraph)