A crypto investor lost 783 bitcoins worth 91 million dollars as a result of a large-scale fraudulent operation using social engineering methods. The perpetrators, posing as representatives of a cryptocurrency exchange and hardware wallet support, convinced the victim to make a transfer to a fraudulent address.
This is reported by Business • Media
How the Bitcoin Theft Occurred
Blockchain analyst ZachXBT reported that the incident took place on August 19, 2025. In a single transaction, the investor lost all of his assets. According to the expert, the stolen funds began to be “laundered” through the Wasabi bitcoin wallet, which is known for its high level of anonymity in financial transactions. The start of the laundering process was recorded approximately a day after the theft itself.
“On August 19, 2025, the victim fell for a social engineering scam and lost 783 BTC ($91M) after the perpetrators posed as the support service of the exchange and hardware wallet. The stolen funds began to be peeled away, and deposits on Wasabi were made by a threat actor.”
Phishing Attacks and Countering Criminals
Social engineering is one of the most common fraud methods in the crypto sphere. Criminals resort to deception to obtain private keys or passwords to wallets. ZachXBT emphasizes that any calls or emails regarding crypto assets should be treated as potential fraud. He also noted that there is currently no information on specific suspects in this case, but the involvement of North Korea’s Lazarus Group is ruled out.
Experts point out that such schemes are becoming increasingly common. Criminals often disguise themselves as support for hardware wallet manufacturers such as Ledger or Trezor. For instance, in the spring of 2025, Ledger users received fake emails demanding that they provide recovery seed phrases supposedly due to a “critical security update.”
Analysts highlight that this case demonstrates the continued growth of crypto crime. According to a report by Hacken, the industry suffered losses of 3.1 billion dollars in just the first half of 2025. This already exceeds the total losses of the sector for the entire year of 2024. The main causes of such incidents remain issues with access management, compromise of private keys, vulnerabilities in smart contracts, and phishing attacks.
Furthermore, ZachXBT pointed out that this theft coincided with the date of last year’s high-profile robbery of the Genesis creditor, during which 243 million dollars were stolen. It was previously reported that since April 2024, the hacker group Embargo had managed to steal over 34 million dollars in crypto assets.