Russia’s Kaspersky warns scammers post crypto wallet seed phrases on YouTube to steal funds

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As a seasoned crypto investor with a few battle scars to show for it, I can’t stress enough the importance of vigilance and caution when navigating the often treacherous waters of the digital asset world. The recent scam unveiled by Kaspersky, exploiting YouTube’s comments section, is yet another reminder that even in this new frontier, old tricks still apply – if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Crooks are taking advantage of YouTube’s comment area by posting seed phrases with the intention of tricking people driven by greed into falling for a multi-signature wallet swindle.

It appears that unscrupulous individuals are discovering creative methods to take advantage of cryptocurrency users. By distributing recovery seed phrases, they lure unsuspecting victims into an attempt to access a multi-signature wallet, which ultimately results in them becoming victims of a fraudulent scheme instead.

On December 23rd, a blog post by the Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky exposed a fraudulent scheme that was initiated when a comment was posted under a finance-related YouTube video. The user in question disclosed their seed phrase and requested assistance with moving funds from their digital wallet. This action raised immediate concerns among experts as it was deemed highly suspicious.

According to a post on the platform, founder of Binance Changpeng Zhao expressed concerns about receiving cryptocurrency via a personal key or hardware wallet, referencing multiple occurrences where such actions have resulted in issues.

Lately, I’ve noticed that people often get cryptocurrencies by receiving a private key or hardware wallet from someone else. However, this method isn’t secure as the original sender still retains access to those funds. It would be safer if you transfer the crypto to your own address, or even better, ask the sender to send it directly to your account instead.

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) December 22, 2024

Here’s one way of rephrasing the given text: A seed phrase is a special set of words used to open a cryptocurrency wallet, but if you share it carelessly, it could be stolen. Kaspersky observed that these comments seemed to be written by beginners, who then posted more similar messages from new accounts. These messages contained seed phrases and pleas for help with money transfers.

In the scam, a thief accessing the wallet would find it filled with Tether’s (USDT). However, to withdraw the funds, the thief would need TRON (TRX).

Unfortunately, the wallet didn’t contain sufficient TRX. In an attempt to steal funds, the thief tried moving TRX from their private wallet. However, they were surprised to find that the tokens they had moved instantly appeared in a separate, unknown third wallet instead.

Kaspersky

According to experts, the security of this wallet system is based on its multi-approval mechanism. This means that numerous individuals must approve transactions before they can proceed. Consequently, even if a fraudster covers the required costs, they won’t succeed in stealing the assets due to this multi-party authorization requirement.

Kaspersky has issued a warning about a scam, explaining that fraudsters can trick people into giving away their seed phrases and other sensitive information by disguising themselves as thieves. Therefore, users are advised to be vigilant about such deceptive tactics and never share their seed phrases. Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that in June, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on 12 high-ranking officials at Kaspersky Lab due to cybersecurity concerns, following a decision to ban the sale of the Russian company’s antivirus software.

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2024-12-23 15:20