Ripple CTO falls victim to 'sophisticated' phishing scam
David Schwartz, CEO of Ripple, recently became the victim of a “sophisticated” phishing scam, according to his recent social media post.
Schwartz claims the scam involved opening an Apple support ticket. The scammers then used real Apple emails and web pages in their SMS messages.
The SMS messages were sent to a Ripple executive to trick him into handing over control of his Apple ID. They were probably able to open a support ticket using just his email address. “Presumably Apple wouldn't give them access. What is smart is to use a (real) case to make their (fake) SMS messages convincing,” he said.
The attackers somehow managed to obtain Schwartz's email address and phone number. “Now I know exactly how they got it, but it’s not a big secret,” he added.
However, the scammers did not fool Schwartz because his SMS messages contained “terrible grammar.”
