Crypto phishing scammers are reportedly raking in five-figure weekly incomes by impersonating Coinbase support and exploiting leaked data to target high-ranking crypto executives and software engineers.
The revelation came after Nick Neuman, CEO of Bitcoin self-custody solutions provider Casa, had an unexpected conversation with a scammer during an attempted phishing attack.
Neuman shared the exchange in a video posted on X on November 20.
Scammer Earns $35,000 a Week
The scammer, instead of cutting off the call, candidly discussed their operations when Neuman questioned him about the motives and mechanics behind such scams.
“We make a minimum of five figures a week; we hit $35,000 two days ago,” the scammer boasted.
According to him, their targets include CEOs, CFOs, and software engineers.
“We don’t call poor people,” the scammer claimed, explaining that their database focuses on individuals with assets of at least $50,000.
The scammer revealed they obtained their target data from Bitcoin financial services company Unchained Capital and assumed many in the crypto space have Coinbase accounts.
Advanced tools such as “auto-doxxers” are used to gather further information, and phishing emails are crafted to appear as if sent directly from Coinbase.
Recently I was called by someone pretending to be Coinbase support, trying to steal bitcoin.
I decided to turn the tables on him and ask him about being a scammer.
Things got wild – he completely changed his personality & told me everything.
Presenting: To Catch a Scammerpic.twitter.com/OZ6TQAiq5s
— Nick Neuman (@Nneuman) November 20, 2024
The phishing attacks typically involve sending victims malicious links disguised as security notifications.
The ultimate goal is to persuade victims to transfer funds to wallets controlled by the scammers.
Highlighting their laundering methods, the scammer admitted to using Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer, and privacy coin Monero to obscure stolen funds.
“After you hold it in XMR for a couple of days, that money is gone,” he said.
The funds are later converted to fiat using middlemen and hardware wallets, such as Ledger, which itself has been a target of phishing campaigns since a 2020 database breach.
Scammer Refers to Crypto as Wild West
The scammer described accessing sensitive company databases as “easy” and referred to the crypto industry as the “Wild Wild West.”
He further mocked victims’ inability to recover stolen funds, saying, “If you lose $30,000-$40,000, who are you going to call? The crypto police?”
The claim comes amid rising crypto phishing scams, with over $127 million stolen in Q3 2024 alone, according to Web3 security firm Scam Sniffer.
As reported, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has disrupted hundreds of crypto scam incidents, reclaiming billions in extorted cryptocurrency since 2021.
DHS investigators have intercepted 537 ransomware attacks before they could cause widespread damage.
The effort, led by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Cyber Crimes Center, has proven particularly vital for the protection of U.S. government agencies, which have been the primary targets of these cyber threats.
Meanwhile, phishing attacks remain a major issue for crypto users, resulting in substantial losses.
In September alone, more than 10,000 individuals lost over $46 million to such scams, as reported by Scam Sniffer, a Web3 anti-scam platform.
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