This is a real experience that unfolded tonight, and I’m sharing it to help others avoid falling into the same trap.
It started with a random phone call from a woman with a British accent asking if I’d recovered my Ledger. Confused, I said no. She then asked if I was in the Netherlands—again, no. She explained that an investigation had been opened, and I would soon receive further instructions.
Immediately after, I received an email from Ledger, seemingly legit, complete with a case number about Ledger recovery. The email appeared verified, and I was getting pulled in deeper. Not long after, I got another call, this time from a man named Adam, also with a British accent. He told me my device likely had corrupted firmware, and I was particularly vulnerable because I had just completed a firmware update on my Nano X.
Adam proceeded to explain that someone had recovered my private keys and was only missing my PIN to access my funds, which they could crack in 4 to 6 hours. At this point, red flags were going off, but the stress of the situation clouded my judgment, especially with the email that appeared directly from Ledger.
Adam directed me to a supposed diagnostic site to check for firmware corruption without unlocking my device. The result? A red error code. This heightened my anxiety, but things felt off when I ran the diagnostic again with my Nano X powered off—same error. Then I ran it on my Nano S, which isn’t even wireless, and got the same error. Something wasn’t adding up.
Then came the big ask: he wanted me to use the recovery feature and enter my seed phrase to generate new private keys. Alarm bells went off. Everyone knows to never enter seed words on a computer. He dangled the promise of $50,000 in insurance coverage if I followed "procedure" but hinted I could lose everything if I didn’t act fast.
Sensing the manipulation, I stalled and told him to call back in 30 minutes. Meanwhile, I hopped onto another computer, ran the diagnostics again on the wrong device, and still got the same error code—convinced now this was a scam. I initiated a chat with Ledger’s bot and, sure enough, received an email with a case number almost identical to the one the scammers had sent.
When Adam called back, I casually mentioned that I had opened another case with Ledger to confirm the diagnostic link. Click—he hung up immediately. That’s when I knew it was all a con.
These scammers were clever, using the Ledger chatbot to send emails that appeared legitimate and manipulating me through fear of losing access to my funds. Ledger never contacts you by phone—this is a big red flag to remember.
Fake Ledger Live Scam – $15K Drained from My Nano S
This isn’t the only scam targeting Ledger users. Earlier this year, I became the victim of a phishing attack, where hackers drained $15,000 worth of crypto from my Nano S after corrupting my PC. They deployed a fake version of Ledger Live that prompted me to share sensitive information.
Funds stolen:
0.17804 BTC (Bitcoin) – $7,835.66
10,699.6 ADA (Cardano) – $5,499.18
0.711888 ETH (Ethereum) – $1,592.85
4.0139 LTC (Litecoin) – $261.32
I know I made a critical error by entering my seed phrase, but the sophistication of these scams can fool even cautious users. If you’ve fallen victim, file a police report and share your information—maybe it can help bring these criminals down.
