According to a recent post shared on X, a Coinbase user lost $1.7 million to a crypto scam that poised as representatives from the well-known cryptocurrency exchange. The victim said he received a phone call from the individual claiming to be a Coinbase representative and an email appearing to come from legitimate Coinbase addresses.

Scammer Uses Phone Calls and Emails to Siphon Funds

The scammer’s narrative was convincing, leading the victim to believe their Coinbase account had an issue that needed immediate action to fix. The scammer also sent several emails to prove its statement. Afterward, the victim was asked to enter their seed phrase to stop the transactions. The victim entered a part of their phase without submitting. Hours later, they claimed $1.7 million was drained from their wallet.

According to Alex Miller’s Tweet, users should perform due diligence before entering any information into a site he or she has a bad feeling on. This is because the bad actors capture data as soon as it enters the system. Miller also confirmed he got a call from Coinbase security, although he did not fall prey to the scammers.

Another Coinbase user TraderPaul04 in a Tweet explained the call he got from scammers claiming to be Coinbase representatives. He affirmed he knew it was a scam and played along. The scammer had to back out when it was obvious the trader knew what he was doing and could not be scammed.

Meanwhile, the prominent exchange is doing everything possible to safeguard its user assets and has advised its users to verify any communication or emails before sending out private passwords and keys.

Crypto Exchange vs. Crypto Scam

Every exchange dreads a security breach as it can cripple operations, erode customer trust, tarnish reputation, and even lead to market downturns. This unfortunate scenario has once unfolded for several prominent crypto platforms like Binance, CoinEx, Gamee Token, and Kyberswap, a decentralized exchange protocol. 

The cryptocurrency industry constantly evolves, and security is a top priority for companies. However, as crypto firms are beefing up security to keep hackers at bay, cybercriminals are resorting to more advanced techniques. This has led to unfortunate incidents such as the EVM Chains breach.

Also, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported a significant 53% spike in cases, resulting in losses totaling around $3.94 billion in 2023 in the United States alone, ranking romance scams as the highest model explored for this exploit. 

Global Efforts to Crackdown Crypto Crimes

In 2021, TheCoinRise media gave a step-by-step guideline on how to track the activities of a crypto fraud thief using analytics software.

Recall that Mastercard, a renowned financial service provider, introduced a tool to combat crypto fraud and financial crimes in response to the alarming increases in financial crimes within the crypto industry. Similarly, many countries like Hong Kong, South Korea, and crypto exchanges like Binance diligently tackle and expose crypto fraud.

Likewise, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has joined in the fight by taking legal action against firms involved in crypto scams.

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