Scammer seeks victim’s Telegram to return stolen $68m

As a seasoned crypto investor who has seen my fair share of market volatility and security breaches, I can’t help but feel a mix of emotions upon hearing about this latest $68 million cryptocurrency heist. On one hand, it’s relieving to learn that hacks have decreased significantly in the past month, as reported by CertiK. On the other hand, it’s disheartening to know that someone lost such a substantial amount through a spam attack.


A cybercriminal responsible for pilfering $68 million in cryptocurrency has proposed restituting the stolen funds through the social media channel, Telegram.

ZachXBT, a well-known investigator in the blockchain community, revealed that the suspected hacker, responsible for the loss of approximately $68 million in assets, has chosen to restore the stolen funds back to their rightful owner.

As an analyst, I would rephrase that statement into: The hacker posted a demand for 51 Ethereum (ETH) through the chat feature on Etherscan.io, requesting the victim’s Telegram handle for the transaction.

Scammer seeks victim’s Telegram to return stolen $68m

When I penned down these words, the victim remained silent to the hacker’s advances. Additionally, it remains a mystery as to why the hacker intends to restore the pilfered property a week post the heist.

As a crypto investor, I’ve learned the hard way that carelessness can cost a fortune. Earlier this month, I unfortunately fell victim to a spam attack that drained my wallet of 1,155 WBTC, equivalent to over $68 million at the current market price. The scammers had tricked me into sending them my hard-earned digital assets through seemingly harmless transactions. It’s a painful reminder for me and others to always stay vigilant and double-check every transaction before confirming it.

In this scenario, the malicious activity towards a specific wallet is referred to as a poisoning or dusting cyberattack. Minute quantities of cryptocurrency get transferred to the target’s wallet from accounts with only slight variations from the usual addresses the recipient frequently uses for transactions.

As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed that the losses caused by hacking in the crypto space have decreased by an impressive 141% over the past month, based on data from CertiK. The total stolen funds from hacks amounted to $21 million. Additionally, crypto projects experienced losses of $4.3 million due to exit scams and a relatively smaller amount of $129,000 due to flash loan fraud.

As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed that since the start of 2024, the collective value of various crypto projects has plummeted by a staggering $449 million. The most disheartening incident in this downturn was the hacking of the Orbit Bridge, which left its unfortunate victims with a hefty loss of $81.5 million.

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2024-05-09 18:14