- The Ledger wallet scam continues to claim victims, four months after the hack
- In July, around a million use emails were stolen from the hardware wallet maker’s database
- Emails and SMS messages from the scammers have been accelerating in recent weeks
The Ledger wallet scam that began when personal details of Ledger customers were stolen in July is intensifying, with emails and SMS messages being on a weekly basis urging users to give up their private keys. Users are still being tricked into handing over remote access to their devices following the barrage of communications from the Ledger wallet scam hackers, with the less crypto-educated increasing the victim count.
Ledger Wallet Scam Targets Inundated With Emails and Texts
The email addresses of around one million Ledger users were stolen in July when an “unauthorized third party” gained access to information on its supposedly secure database, with postal addresses, phone numbers and order details of thousands of others also taken. Since then, Ledger customers have been inundated with emails and texts purporting to come from the Ledger Support Team suggesting that their devices have been compromised and to follow a link to reset it. Of course, inputting such information does nothing of the sort and just gives the hackers access to the associated wallet.
These communications were slow to begin with but have picked up the pace in recent weeks, coming on a weekly or sometimes bi-weekly basis.
Victim Number Increasing
Despite four months having passed it seems that individuals are still being convinced of the authenticity of the communications, with one user reporting that he lost “a good chunk” of his Bitcoin after a third party entered the wallet details:
A good chunk of my #bitcoin is gone through the @ledger phishing scam. Seriously. Someone I love had access to the seed phrase, got the text warning about that our wallet was hacked and to enter seed to recover…, and entered the seed + passphrase. RIP.
— Math Cannot Be Banned (@beeforbacon1) December 11, 2020
Others in the community have reported a similar fate:
Happened to me too. Both me and my wife get this emails daily. She’s not into BTC-security like me and fell for it with our entire stack. 😰😱 pic.twitter.com/FGF5nxLJuH
— Maximiliam Bitcoin (@swehodl) December 11, 2020
With the recent increase in communications there is clearly no intent by the Ledger wallet scam perpetrators to ease up in their efforts, and there is little Ledger can do to stop them. The company has already sent out a number of emails on the subject, reminding users to never share their 24-word and asking help in taking down scammers’ websites.
If you are in any doubt as to the voracity of a Ledger email, just remember that Ledger will NEVER ask for your 24-word seed phrase, and really should have no business even asking for your crypto addresses.
