A Gigachad (GIGA) cryptocurrency investor was scammed out of $6.09 million after clicking on a fake Zoom link, raising security concerns in the cryptocurrency market.
The incident occurred on November 12, when the market witnessed a major sell-off in GIGA coins. The investor nicknamed “Still in the Game” later confirmed that he was the victim of a sophisticated scam.
According to the victims, they clicked on a fake Zoom meeting invitation link that led to a malicious website that secretly installed software to steal digital wallet information. The hackers gained access to three investor wallets, pooling 95.3 million GIGA tokens, equivalent to $6.09 million, into a single wallet before converting them to other cryptocurrencies.
Detailed analysis of the attack and its aftermath
Fraud investigation firm Scam Sniffer said the scam website was sophisticatedly designed to steal sensitive personal wallet information.
Source: Scam Sniffer
Onchain Lens, a blockchain analytics firm, tracked the funds and confirmed that the hacker converted the stolen GIGA into 11,759 Solana (SOL), worth about $2.1 million at the time, and then converted it into stablecoins Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC). The stablecoins were then transferred to another wallet, while 700 SOL were indirectly transferred to the KuCoin exchange. The entire process shows the attacker's knowledge of the cryptocurrency market and techniques to hide their tracks.
The victim said he has contacted the FBI and a forensic team to assist in the investigation and recovery of the stolen assets. However, the possibility of recovering all of the stolen funds remains uncertain. Despite the heavy loss, the “Still in the Game” investor remains optimistic and confident that he will recover the lost funds, and even more, thanks to the future growth of the cryptocurrency market.
The incident could also spur a trend toward more robust security solutions for the cryptocurrency market. For example, after the $235 million hack of Indian exchange WazirX, founder Nischal Shetty announced plans to build a decentralized exchange (DEX).
He emphasized the benefits of users self-managing their assets, avoiding the risks of centralized exchanges. The plan includes issuing a separate DEX token to pay for trading fees and platform governance.
