Jun 2021 - BradoIlleszt MetaMask Phishing Loss

$19 000 USD

JUNE 2021

CANADA

METAMASK

DESCRIPTION OF EVENTS

"I started accumulating around 1700 and developed a solid portfolio." "I was looking into doing some de fi stuff with pancake swap." "I had my ETH stored on [a] hardware wallet."

"He posted 43 days ago about 8 Eth that went to his [L]edger."

"I googled MetaMask and I guess I clicked on the “Ad” Metamask." "[T]he ad links it was either metannask . Com or download - metamask . Com." "I downloaded Metamask." "I then selected import wallet and thats when it asked for my recovery phrase etc." "My mind was on autopilot and was not thinking what I was doing."

"I attempted to import my wallet and supplied the recovery phrase (I know lol)." "The sad thing was I used a hard wallet and I don’t know what went through my mind to try and import it to MetaMask. It wasn’t even necessary." "I didn’t plan to move it all to MetaMask, idk what I was thinking. I wasn’t I guess. It was safe in a cold wallet and my dumbass didn’t think." "I completely dropped the ball."

"The problem wasn't actually metamask, but that he didn't get metamask." "I suspect I downloaded MetaMask from an illegitimate site." "[I]t looks like it was from a phishing site, imported my wallet and all of my ETH was stolen." "That was the mistake I made." "Please do not go to these sites and set anything up (obvious but as my post shows sometimes people dont think lol)." "Essentially what I think happened was I downloaded an illegitimate plug in and when I imported my wallet, they accessed it using my recovery phrase and transferred the funds out."

"I lost a total of 8.13 ETH yesterday. My entire initial investment + almost $10K in profits." "I wish I could have recovered some. I reached out to some cybersecurity law firms but they seemed sketch and I didn’t want to risk getting scammed again." "5 figures+?"

"All gone and future gains gone to the oerson who stole it. Its a terrible feeling and its even worse because you can see the transaction and where the ETH is sitting. Gut wrenching really."

"I don’t really know what to do or think. I took all actions, filing a police report, NFIB report. Contacting Metamask, binance, I even tried tracking the transactions myself." "I[']ve reported the domain to google." "I felt so dumb filing the [police] report, but I figured you never know. Graspin at straws on that one haha."

"[H]ave you gleaned any info about the account your crypto went to?" "I saw some transactions on the binance smart chain. Wasnt sure if that’d be worth looking into." "I noticed transactions on the Binance Smart Chain and wondered if Binance could assist, no luck." "I found a lot of info, but just transactions, so not much. No comments or anything on the transactions. It is terrible."

"It shows a transaction from my wallet address to another wallet address that I’m not aware of…" "Th[e] address [where the funds were sent] currently holds 9.12 ether." "[M]ost of it is mine. They transferred some out already."

"Lesson learned." "The money will come. The one part though that keeps pulling me down is how much my ETH will be worth down the line. I think about that and it drags me down hard. I had my whole investment strategy worked out and when I’d take profits, where I’d diversify those profits and now its just completely gone."

"I don’t blame metamask at all. I blame myself because it was my mistake." "Now looking back I wish I wasn’t so friggen dumb. All it took was one glance and I didnt even bother to do that." "I’m focusing on starting over and accumulating again. In a few years I should offset the losses."

"Definitely can’t stop investing in crypto!! My mom had a hard wallet she didnt use so I spun it up on a different computer and moved the little bit I had onto it already and invested a small portion of my normal savings." "I transferred what I had from left in Binance to my new wallet."

"I’m just posting this as a reminder for anyone that sees this. Please be extra careful, think not twice but three times before you execute a trade or move aby of your crypto. Just avoid this dumb browser extension wallets at all costs."

Reddit user BradoIlleszt reports that on June 16th they lost 8.12666451 Ether (worth $19,241.50 at the time) by providing their Ledger seed phrase to a fraudulent MetaMask wallet. They found the wallet via a Google search, where it was the top advertising result, installed it, and entered the seed phrase in a moment of weak judgement despite having a hardware wallet and knowing better.

There does not appear to have been any success in determining and chasing down whoever took the funds despite multiple reports being filed. It does not seem that any of the funds will be recovered.

HOW COULD THIS HAVE BEEN PREVENTED?

Always visit websites through their official URL only, by using bookmarks or typing the address yourself. If you use a hardware wallet, never enter your seed phrase outside of it's hardware. Keep the majority of funds in an offline cold storage wallet. When setting up a new wallet, always set it up with a new wallet address and a small amount of funds, and never use your main wallet.

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$19 000 USD

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CANADA

METAMASK

DESCRIPTION OF EVENTS

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