- Scammers are now sharing their wallets’ seed phrases to entice victims
- The scammers disguise themselves as new and uniformed crypto users
- They post the seed phrases as comments on YouTube videos
Crypto scammers continue to invent new tricks to entice victims and are now publicly sharing their wallets’ seed phrases to bait victims. The scammers disguise themselves as novices and wait for the unsuspecting victim to try and access the wallets through the phrase before they turn the tables and access the victims’ wallets instead. The phrases are posted in the comment sections of YouTube videos asking for help in transferring crypto from one wallet to another, a tactic that exploits a victim’s appetite for easy money.
Impossible for Victims to “Steal” Funds
The tactic was discovered by Kaspersky researcher Mikhail Sytnik who noted that the malicious actors are posting the seed phrases in YouTube video comments using newly-created YouTube accounts.
According to Sytnik, the scammers’ wallet actually contains Tron-based USDT worth thousands of dollars to further entice a victim to want to send all or part of the amount to another wallet. However, the seed phrase provided belongs to a multi-signature wallet making it impossible for the victims to withdraw the funds.
The scammers make a profit when the victims try to send TRX from a wallet they own to pay a “small fee” to cater for transaction costs. The “small fee” ends up “in a completely different, third wallet.”
“Naive” Thieves Become Victims
Sytnik said the scammers target “naive thieves – who end up becoming the victims,” adding that the trick targets “unprincipled people.” The Kaspersky researcher said the only way to avoid being a victim is by being a “decent person [even when the seed phrase is] slipped under your front door.”
He added that crypto users need to learn about the latest scams, use reliable security measures for their wallets, and avoid interacting with information from strangers.
Sytnik’s revelations come two weeks after blockchain security firm Scam Sniffer disclosed that scammers are using fake Telegram verification bots to access crypto wallets.
With scammers continuously looking for ways to entice victims, they’ll likely continue nabbing unsuspecting crypto users.
