"Your mnemonic phrase is the key to the vault—when the fake security guard smiles and reaches out, no matter how thick the steel door is, it's just a facade!"
(With painful case examples) How rampant are counterfeit goods? Over 40 wallet plugins in the Firefox store are all "actors", from MetaMask to OKX they are all cosplaying, even the icons are identical (I compared screenshots, it's basically a high-definition replica of Candy Crush).
Real case: My follower @CryptoLittleCannon installed a "Trust Wallet" last week, input his mnemonic phrase to claim an airdrop, and 2.3 SOL disappeared half an hour later—later found out the plugin's email was [email protected] (the official site has no record of this account!).
How do hackers steal money? Built-in invisible monitors in the plugin: when you input the mnemonic phrase, it's like typing in a hacker's live stream! More insidious is—deliberately hiding error messages (using code to make the warning boxes transparent, you thought there was no alarm? In fact, the alarm has long been silenced).
Why didn't the officials intervene? Firefox's review process is like a sieve with holes: fake plugins can pass by racking up hundreds of five-star reviews (one fake Coinbase plugin had over 2000 reviews, but only 80 downloads—this data is so fake it makes me want to dig my toes into the ground!). Personal opinion: automated reviews can't keep up with the 'guerrilla warfare' of Russian hackers, who upload new disguises every week, and the officials' account bans can't keep up with their upload speed!
Anna's three tricks to avoid pitfalls (proven effective) Check credentials before installation
→ Check the developer's email: the official ones are all [email protected] (for example, MetaMask's official site clearly states [email protected]), treat any with noone.site as a virus!
→ Open the negative review section: the positive reviews sound like a parrot ("Best wallet ever!!!" × 50), only real users provide details when complaining (e.g., "Coins disappeared after the update! Scammer!").
Absolutely refuse to provide the mnemonic phrase
→ No plugin is entitled to ask for these 12/24 words! Remember Anna's words: "A real wallet lets you 'connect' or 'sign', a fake wallet tricks you into 'inputting' or 'backing up'!"
High-risk operations with a secondary account
→ Set up an encrypted virtual machine on your computer (as an "operating room"), and only install the wallet's official plugins downloaded from the official website. I avoided a phishing attack last year using this trick (the fake Uniswap plugin popped up asking for the mnemonic phrase, and the virtual machine isolated the risk).
"You think you're harvesting airdrop rewards, but in reality, you've become a roasted whole lamb on a hacker's cutting board—next video will take you to 'dissect' the latest fake plugin's backend data, to see how that string of Russian commands strips your wallet bare. Anna disarms the trap: 'A real wallet lets you connect or sign, a fake wallet tricks you into inputting or backing up!'"
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