Hack Victims Receive Fake Ledger Nano from Scammers
Victims of the 2020 Ledger data breach are now receiving fake Ledger Nano hardware wallets guise as replacements.
In July 2020, the information of around 9,500 customers was compromised as a result of a data breach. From then on, these customers became targets of phishing attacks from hackers with emails posing as Ledger correspondence and text messages.
A data dump occurred in December 2020 exposing 1,000,000 email addresses including 272,000 names, mailing addresses, and phone numbers of customers who purchased Ledger hardware wallet. Victims received extortion emails and even threats of violence.
A sophisticated modus was carried out as described by victims. This was revealed by a Reddit user u/jjrand, who was among the victims of the data breach last year. They received a package that appeared to be from Ledger although they did not place an order. Though the item comes with an authentic package with the Ledger logo, it has discrepancies as compared to the original item. The received item also comes with a poorly written letter supposedly from Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier. As stated in the fake letter:
“As you know, Ledger was targeted by a cyberattack that led to a data breach in July 2020. For this reason for security purposes, we have sent you a new device you must switch to a new device to stay safe. There is a manual inside your new box you can read that to learn how to set up your new device. For this reason, we have changed our device structure. We now guarantee that this kinda breach will never happen again.”
According to the user, the item has signs of tampering. To initialize the item, the user was asked to enter his 24-word recovery phrase. Once accessed, the hacker can use the phrase to create the wallet’s private keys, which allows the perpetrator to import a wallet and access the user’s funds.
In a comment made by Ledger Chief Information Security Officer Matt Johnson on Coindesk regarding the issue, he stated:
“We are aware of this scam, which we have included in our list of ongoing malicious attacks listed on our website. You should be suspicious of receiving a free product in the mail that you didn’t order and check Ledger’s official channels or contact Ledger support team.”
He also added that Ledger and Ledger Live will never ask users for their 24-word recovery phrase in any means.
Cold wallets like Ledger can only become vulnerable when hackers have access to the physical wallet. Though providers are mainly responsible for securing their users’ data and assets, it remains a shared responsibility. Users should always be vigilant and if they find anything suspicious, it is best to notify their wallet providers.
Sichuan Shuts Down Bitcoin Miners
In Yaan City, Sichuan, bitcoin miners were ordered to shut down as part of the intensive crackdown against crypto miners in the country.
Sichuan was known for its hydropower plants and offers very cheap to free power in order to attract jobs and boost gross domestic product figures. In his statement to Time, Tang Wanlong, chairman of bitcoin mining company Sichuan Duo Technology Co. Ltd commented on the matter:
“The water is just going to flow away, so rather than waste it, we use it to make a contribution to China.”
But the country has now shunned all cryptocurrency activities including mining. According to reports, 26 crypto mining farms were affected by the shutdown. Chinese crypto blogger Colin Wu stated that large mining farms will be the most hit.
“There are many small and medium-sized hydropower stations in Yunnan, Sichuan, and it may be difficult for them to receive government supervision. However, large-scale projects will be shut down in the short term.”
Sichuan is now the fifth province in China that has launched a crackdown on bitcoin mining farms. Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, and Yunnan have issued notices on the shutdown of crypto mining farms in their respective areas. Bitcoin miners in China account for 75% of the bitcoin hash rate.
In the past, the reduction of the bitcoin hashrate has also accounted for the decline in its price. As of writing, BTC (bitcoin) is now at $ 36,819.69 in recent data by Crypto.co.
Mark Cuban’s Loses Money After Titan Plummets to Nearly Zero
Billionaire Mark Cuban has invested in a DeFi project as one of the liquidity providers on QuickSwap, a decentralized exchange. The project was also endorsed by Cuban in his tweet on June 13.
Crypto Businesses make more sense than you think and valuing tokens is easier and makes more sense than you think . They are just businesses like any other , with a few HUGE advantages. My blog post on the matter https://t.co/uICS2H9JGs
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 14, 2021
Titan was part of Iron Finance, a DeFi project. The protocol has two coins: IRON and TITAN.
On June 16, TITAN experienced a bank run sending its value to nearly zero from its previous price of $64.04. On June 17, Iron Finance has advised its users to withdraw their liquidity from all pools.
Dear community, please withdraw liquidity from all pools.
We will share a post-mortem as soon as we have a better understanding of this bank run.
USDC collateral is available for redemption as normal:https://t.co/tOacyNUVeL
Iron Finance Team pic.twitter.com/I9BAZReLHk
— IRON Finance (@IronFinance) June 17, 2021
The DeFi project was initially reported as a rug pull and Cuban commented at that time:
“I got hit like everyone else. Crazy part is I got out, thought they were increasing their [total value locked] enough. Than [sic] Bam.”
In a published post mortem by Iron Finance stated:
“We never thought it would happen, but it just did. We just experienced the world’s first large-scale crypto bank run.”
TITAN’s current price is now down to only $0.00000003 from more than $60.
Cuban was able to exit before token collapsed but not everyone has the same luxury though.
So only four days ago billionaire Mark Cuban promotes the Titan token and then miraculously finds a way to exit when the price collapsed from $60 to $0 in the last 24 hours.
"I got hit like everyone else. Crazy part is I got out".
Enough with the billionaire scamming already.
— TheGladiator (@TheGladiatorHC) June 17, 2021
Due diligence is needed before investing in any crypto project. You need to do your own research not merely following an influencer’s advice. It’s your money to invest and to lose if ever you fail.
World Bank Will Not Support El Salvador on Bitcoin
El Salvador has recently sought the help of the World Bank on its BTC (bitcoin) implementation as legal tender. But the World Bank declined to aid the country citing environmental and transparency concerns.
In a report by Reuters on Wednesday, the World Bank spokesperson stated:
“We are committed to helping El Salvador in numerous ways for currency transparency and regulatory processes.”
The spokesperson further added:
“While the government did approach us for assistance on Bitcoin, this is not something the World Bank can support given the environmental and transparency shortcomings.”
El Salvador was the first country to adopt BTC (bitcoin) as legal tender amidst growing concerns about its carbon footprint as a result of fossil fuels like coals used to mine the cryptocurrency.
