: details
The well-known blockchain investigator “ZachXBT” revealed yesterday, Friday, that one of the victims fell victim to a social engineering scam related to a hardware wallet, resulting in losses exceeding 282 million dollars from Bitcoin and Litecoin.
According to reports, the attackers converted the stolen funds into Monero (XMR), which was considered one of the factors that contributed to the sharp rise in the privacy coin over the past week.
ZachXBT added that a large part of the stolen Bitcoin was routed through THORChain to move to other networks and assets, such as Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin.
The case sparked quick controversy within the crypto community, especially after some interacted with THORChain's posts on platform X.
Some followers accused the platform of treating it as an achievement, while others emphasized that this type of fraud proves that even hardware wallets are not immune if scammers manage to deceive the victim and extract sensitive information.
Social engineering attacks often rely on impersonation and building false trust before pushing the victim to take a wrong step, such as sharing data or agreeing to a transfer.
It sometimes spreads through fake accounts that lure victims with emotional or enticing tactics.
Before the transfers to Monero began, XMR was trading near $450, then jumped within days to consecutive historical peaks, the latest being on January 15 when it approached $800.
However, the currency later fell sharply, perhaps after the attackers liquidated part of the returns, trading currently below $630.
