How money is stolen from cryptocurrency wallets

Information about the new cryptocurrency scam became known thanks to the Attorney General of the State of New York, Letitia James, who launched the corresponding legal process. The purpose of the latter is to recover more than $2 million stolen from gullible local residents.

Cryptocurrency scammers

They were promised to provide remote work on flexible terms, but instead, the victims were asked to buy steiblecoins and send them to the appropriate wallet. Since the “job” was to create reviews for certain products, such a thing was allegedly needed to confirm the availability of funds to pay for them, thus ensuring the appeal of the review.

Here’s the relevant quote about the case, as cited by Cointelegraph.

The scammers sent messages to New Yorkers with promises of high-paying and flexible jobs to trick them into buying cryptocurrency and then stealing it.

What did the scheme look like? Victims were promised payment after they created a cryptocurrency account, funded it with Stablecoins for the required amount, then left reviews about certain products on fake websites that resembled well-known platforms.

Here is a screenshot of the corresponding correspondence with the scammers.

Screenshot of correspondence with cryptocurrency scammers

The balance of the cryptocurrency wallet had to either match or exceed the amount of the reviewed product. The scammers separately emphasised that the victim did not purchase the product, but only simulated such an operation, as the money on the address allowed to “legitimise” the relevant reviews.

In return, the scammers not only had to return the amount sent in steblecoins, but also pay a commission on top. Here’s a rejoinder from a court case on the matter.

This compensation, allegedly paid in steiblecoins, never actually existed. And the funds that victims allegedly deposited into their “work accounts” actually went into wallets owned and controlled by the alleged scammers.

😈 MORE INTERESTING STUFF CAN BE FOUND IN OUR YANDEX.ZEN!

Cryptocurrency scammers

As you probably guessed, scammers kept the entire amount for themselves and did not pay a commission to their victims. That is, the latter essentially received an excuse to send tokens with a link to the dollar exchange rate to the address of scammers.

And although the scheme seems quite simple, it was also effective. According to the case file, the scammers received at least $2.2 million in the largest stablecoins USDT and USDC. Some victims lost at least 100k each, meaning the losses for them were substantial.

These users include a hotel receptionist named Ellie, who lives in Nassau County, and a 31-year-old teacher from Queens named Mell. Here’s Letitia James’ commentary on what’s going on from The Block.

I urge all New Yorkers to be wary of text messages from unfamiliar senders offering jobs or other opportunities. Report any fraudulent schemes to my office.

Scamming New Yorkers who are looking for remote work and want to earn money to support their families is cruel and unacceptable.

It’s important to note that the scammers still managed to do damage, as $2.2 million in scammer funds were frozen at the scammers’ address. Accordingly, law enforcement agencies co-operated with the issuers of USDT and USDC – Tether and Circle. Employees of the latter can add certain addresses in the blockchain to a blacklist, which prevents them from interacting with the tokens and essentially freezes them.

Adding a blockchain address to the Tether blacklist

This way it will be possible to recover damages and confiscate funds to pay legal fees. Additionally, fraudsters should not repeat this in the future for fear of being caught.

Why NFTs are needed.

Whether law enforcement will get to the scammers is unknown. However, Letitia James plans to notify scammers of a lawsuit via NFT, which will be sent to the scammers’ respective address on the blockchain. Which means they’ll know what’s going on and will technically be notified of the proceedings.

Here’s the cue.

Issuing the notice via NFT will provide the scammers with information about the proceedings, directing them to a link to the Attorney General’s Office website, which is exactly where all the case files will be posted. No other state or federal regulator has previously used this method to file a lawsuit.

Scammers who steal the NFT


This situation clearly shows that scammers still haven't forgotten about the existence of the coin industry, and it's easy enough for novice users to get scammed.

To avoid being among them, it is important to remember two basic rules. First of all, you should not conduct any transactions at the request of strangers from the Internet or SMS. Also, you should not reveal your passphrase or private key to a certain blockchain address under any pretext. In this case, a hacker will be able to gain control of the wallet and withdraw all the crypto.


Look for more interesting stuff in our crypto chat room. Come to us!

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL IN TELEGRAM TO BE INFORMED.