Friend.tech SIM-swap scourge continues as scammer nets $385K in Ether

11 months ago

Leaked mobile telephone numbers person fixed scammers an casual mode to drain friend.tech idiosyncratic accounts.

Friend.tech SIM-swap scourge continues arsenic  scammer nets $385K successful  Ether

A azygous scammer has reportedly managed to bargain astir $385,000 worthy of Ether (ETH) successful little than 24 hours, amid a scourge of SIM-swap hacks seemingly targeting friend.tech users. 

On Oct. 5, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT reported the aforesaid scammer had pilfered 234 ETH implicit the past 24 hours by SIM-swapping 4 antithetic friend.tech users.

The on-chain movement of crypto assets each traced backmost to the aforesaid hacker who drained the accounts of the 4 victims.

The aforesaid scammer profited $385K (234 ETH) successful the past 24 hours disconnected SIM swapping 4 antithetic FriendTech users. pic.twitter.com/03BoBEqGax

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) October 4, 2023

One of the reported victims of the astir caller concatenation of SIM-swap attacks posted to X (Twitter) pursuing the attack:

“Got sim swapped. Apparently, dude was capable to bash it from an Apple store and switched it to an iPhone SE. Don't bargain my keys, that wallet is compromised.”

X idiosyncratic “KingMgugga” reported an attacking targeting them happening successful existent time, posting to X that they were “getting fucking sim swapped watching it happen" and asked for help. Meanwhile different X idiosyncratic "holycryptoroni" confirmed they were similarly attacked, lamenting "I got swapped sorry."

Earlier this week, a further 4 Friend.tech users claimed to person their accounts drained arsenic a effect of a SIM-swap oregon phishing attack, totaling to astir 109 ETH stolen.

I was conscionable SIM swapped and robbed of 22 ETH via @friendtech

The 34 of my ain keys that I owned were sold, rugging anyone who held my key, each the different keys I owned were sold, and the remainder of the ETH successful my wallet was drained.

If your Twitter relationship is doxxed to your real… pic.twitter.com/5wA86mjYEG

— daren (friend, friend) (@darengb) October 3, 2023

Friend.tech allows users to acquisition “keys” of individuals which grants entree to backstage chat rooms with them.

The SIM-swap scam occurs erstwhile scammers summation entree to the victim’s telephone fig and usage it to get authentication which enables them to entree their societal media and crypto accounts.

Manifold Trading, a steadfast gathering tools for the ecosystem, estimated that $20 cardinal of friend.tech’s $50 cardinal full worth locked could beryllium astatine risk. It called for the level to beef up its relationship information measures by enabling two-factor authentication (2FA).

Related: How casual is simply a SIM swap attack? Here’s however to forestall one

There person besides been calls for X to instrumentality 2FA information measures to forestall the leaking of mobile telephone numbers pursuing the high-profile hack of Vitalik Buterin’s account successful September which was besides owed to a SIM swap attack.

Founder and CEO of wallet information steadfast Delegate "0xfoobar" advised removing telephone numbers from societal media accounts.

crypto twitter is similar a vicinity wherever erstwhile a time idiosyncratic leaves their beforehand doorway open, gets robbed, and everybody comes unneurotic to lament the loss, leaving their ain beforehand doors open. alternatively of retweeting the 75th simswap of the week spell region your telephone from everything

— foobar (@0xfoobar) October 5, 2023

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