A hack that drained $35 million from Atomic Wallet users since June 2 impacted less than 1% of its monthly active users, according to the company. In the aftermath of the attack, Atomic Wallet — along with individual blockchain investigators — have amped up efforts to track and revert stolen funds.
Trying to cash in on the commotion, a few verified scam Twitter accounts impersonated Atomic Wallet while sharing phishing links claiming to help users recover lost funds.
Pseudonymous on-chain researcher ZachXBT further claimed to have helped a victim recover $1 million of lost funds. However, the recovery process is yet to be disclosed, which ZachXBT allegedly “Will share in time but best not to yet.”
A huge shoutout goes to @buffalu__ @brian_smith_0 for helping us successfully rescue $1m from the Atomic Wallet hacker for one of the victims.
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 4, 2023
Contrary to Atomic Wallet’s announcement, numerous users continue to report loss of funds at the time of writing. Additionally, the community called out the company’s attempt to water down the damage, as one user stated:
“% doesn’t matter, hacker intend to focus on big fund wallet only.”
The episode reflects on the importance of researching the right service provider when it comes to the safekeeping of crypto assets. Moreover, it questions the “not your keys, not your coins” narrative preached by numerous crypto wallet providers such as Atomic Wallet, as shown below.
ZachXBT’s investigation found that the largest amount lost by an individual in the Atomic Wallet hack was $7.95 million in Tether (USDT) on the Tron blockchain. As per the last update, the five biggest losses account for $17 million.
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Over the weekend, on June 4, a hacker took control of the mobile phone owned by pro-XRP (XRP) lawyer, John Deaton. Deaton’s Twitter account was then used to shill LAW tokens.
John Deaton’s phone has been hacked today after a relentless cyberattack over several days.
This is NOT a legitimate tweet. His account has been taken over. He has taken immediate steps to remedy the situation.
Please disregard it and all communications from it until you… https://t.co/anOjGBloEi
— CryptoLaw (@CryptoLawUS) June 3, 2023
Soon after the tweet, Deaton and accounts representing him warned users about the hack and were advised against investing in the cryptocurrency.
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