#creattoearn #scamers
Scammer Poses as UK Police, Steals $2.8M in Bitcoin From Hardware Wallet
Police in Wales are investigating a "staggering" $2.8 million (£2.1 million) Bitcoin theft, in which a scammer posed as a senior detective to win the victim's confidence.
In a statement, North Wales Police said the case "highlights a disturbing new trend targeting long-term crypto holders who use cold storage devices."
At this stage, it is believed the victim's details may have been compromised in a data breach, allowing the "highly targeted and advanced scam" to take place.
The victim was called by a "senior U.K. law enforcement officer" who claimed their personal details had been found on the phone of someone recently arrested.
Fear and urgency tactics were used to encourage the victim to "secure their assets" by logging into their cold storage device using a phishing link.
Believing they were following police instructions, they then entered their seed phrase into this "sophisticated but fake" website.
It took a matter of moments for the assets to be withdrawn, and North Wales Police's Cyber Crime Team are now trying to track the funds down.
In a statement on Facebook, the force stressed that its detectives would never call members of the public to discuss their crypto holdings or cold storage device—describing this as a "big red flag."
Anyone contacted by someone claiming to be an officer is urged to hang up and call the police directly to verify whether the contact is genuine.
The post went on to stress that legitimate companies and law enforcement officials would never ask for a seed phrase, either.
