Crypto Scammers Swipe $123K in stETH from Nest Wallet Founder in Fake Airdrop
In a sobering reminder of the prevalence of cryptocurrency scams, Nest Wallet co-founder Bill Lou revealed on Tuesday he fell victim to an elaborate fake airdrop scheme resulting in the theft of over $123,000 worth of staked Ethereum (stETH).
Lou took to X to describe how he attempted to claim an airdrop advertised in a fraudulent article guide. By signing a message through the link provided, scammers were able to drain the contents of Lou’s Metamask wallet.
“I can’t believe this is happening, I’ve always been so careful. I saw an article guide to the airdrop and followed the link to sign a message. I didn’t even question it,” Lou tweeted.
I'm devastated guys…
I just got scammed out of $125k of stEth while trying to claim the $LFG airdrop. And I'm a fking founder of a wallet startup that's trying to improve wallet security…
I can't believe this is happening, I've always been so careful. I saw article guide to… pic.twitter.com/x56HR2z8xK
— Bill Lou (@BillLou95) January 2, 2024
According to Lou, the phishing link initially appeared legitimate and straightforward. This highlights the growing sophistication of tactics used by scammers to evade security measures and dupe even the most tech-savvy victims into providing access to their cryptocurrency wallets.
Etherscan data revealed the stolen stETH was rapidly sent to Uniswap by the perpetrators, likely to immediately trade it for untraceable cryptocurrencies. This swift movement of funds following a scam is a common pattern enabling criminals to cover their tracks.
The incident comes as figures show monthly increases in crypto phishing scams over the past year. Research by Scam Sniffer revealed crypto scammers stole around $295 million from some 324,000 victims in 2022, with phishing
Read more on cryptonews.com
