A Bitcoiner fell victim to a social engineering attack after being approached by impostors posing as hardware wallet support, losing 783 BTC worth $91 million.
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A Bitcoiner lost $91 million in a single transaction to a social engineering attack on Tuesday, with funds then sent to a privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet, according to blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
The victim was deceived by impostors posing as crypto exchange and hardware wallet support, losing 783 Bitcoin () in a single transaction, ZachXBT in an X post on Thursday.
Blockchain data the theft occurred on Tuesday at 11:06 am UTC, and the exploiter started laundering the stolen funds a day later through the Bitcoin privacy-focused Wasabi Wallet to conceal the trail, ZachXBT said.
Social engineering attacks involve attackers tricking people into revealing sensitive information, such as their private keys or passwords, allowing attackers to steal their funds. These exploits have been rampant in crypto, targeting everyone from sophisticated crypto investors to the elderly.
how to avoid being socially engineered, ZachXBT said to assume that every call or email received is a “scam by default.”
ZachXBT rules out North Korea hackers
While ZachXBT didn’t identify any suspects, he ruled out the notorious North Korean state-backed Lazarus Group as a potential culprit.
The attacker received the funds at a clean — bc1qyxyk — before using Wasabi Wallet’s privacy features to try to conceal them.
ZachXBT added that, coincidentally, the attack occurred exactly one year after the .
Scammers impersonating hardware crypto wallet providers
Scammers have frequently impersonated crypto hardware wallet providers such as Ledger and Trezor, using sophisticated methods.
In late April, scammers impersonating Ledger posing as the company, asking users for secret recovery phrases to crypto wallets in an attempt to take control of their devices.
They claimed a “critical security update” needed to be performed on their devices and that failure to comply may “result in restricted access to your wallet and funds.”
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The same month, an elderly US citizen worth of Bitcoin to a social engineering attack, sending shockwaves through the industry.
Crypto theft is still a multibillion-dollar industry
More than in crypto-related attacks in the first five months of 2025, with the bulk of losses coming from wallet compromises and phishing attacks, blockchain security firm CertiK said in June.
The biggest incident by far was the of crypto exchange Bybit in February, highlighting that even large, extensively audited crypto platforms remain at risk.
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