Trader faces $68m loss in shocking Wrapped Bitcoin address poisoning scam

A trader mistakenly sent $68 million in Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) to a scammer in an address-poisoning scheme.

On May 3, the monumental theft of $68 million was initially uncovered by on-chain security company Cyvers. The firm made an intriguing post questioning if this huge loss of 1,155 units of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), which was detected by their system, actually happened, or if it was a mistake.

They suspected that this might be another case of an account falling prey to an address-p poisoning scam.

Crypto wallet 0x1E plunges, scams persist

The wallet known as “0x1E” has seen a drastic loss. More than 97% of its assets disappeared, amounting to around $67.8 million, says CoinStats.

Address poisoning, or address spoofing, is a scam that targets disorganized or rushed traders. The scammers trick these traders into sending their digital cryptocurrencies to fake addresses that they control.

Crypto scams remain a serious issue, shaking the world’s trust in digital currency. In April, ZKasino’s scam case led to investors losing a whopping $33 million. A related suspect was caught by Dutch officials later that month, on April 29th.

$25.7 million in cryptocurrency was lost due to scams and hacks in April, marking the smallest amount since 2021. This information is based on data from CertiK, a company that tracks such incidents.

Based on the report, there was a significant 141% decrease in losses from scams, hacks, and attacks in comparison to the previous month. This reduction is attributed largely to fewer incidents of private key breaches. April recorded only three such breaches, a stark contrast to the more than 11 similar attacks witnessed in March.

CertiK’s numbers don’t account for the $33 million ZKasino scandal. While this situation is viewed as contentious, it’s not yet officially labeled a scam.

On April 22, ZKasino moved all 10,515 Ether invested by its backers into the Lido staking protocol, which raised more anxiety among the investors. CertiK mentioned in its report that it will revise the numbers if ZKasino turns out to be a rogue player.

Woman loses $25,000 in Musk impersonation scam

In other news, a woman from Montreal reports losing nearly $25,000 on a fraudulent cryptocurrency trading platform she believed was created by Elon Musk. This case underscores the increasing risks of online scams, which continue to evolve in sophistication.

The woman at the heart of this story, who chooses to remain private, thought she was part of genuine cryptocurrency trading for more than a month.

It seemed like billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk was excitedly talking about a new trading platform and software that he allegedly made, which she said ran for roughly five to ten minutes.

After investing nearly $25,000, she started having doubts and decided it was time to pull out her funds. She made her wishes known, stating she wanted to withdraw her investment and close her account completely.

However, when she tried to get her money back, she said that the company started dragging its feet and demanded high fees and security deposits for the withdrawal of her assets.

She sent the company an additional $3,000 before she finally understood that she wouldn’t get her money back. While sharing her ordeal, she confessed she clung desperately to any remaining hope of kindness and decency. She further admitted that when she first engaged with these individuals, they were aware of her dire financial circumstances, and they had extensive personal details about her.

Last year, Canadians reported a loss exceeding $314 million due to investment fraud.

According to Carmi Levy, a tech analyst at Bell Media, an AI-generated deep fake video of Musk promoting the trading platform has been all over the internet for some time now.