Victim Loses $91M in Bitcoin to Social Engineering Scam Disguised as Wallet Support

Highlights:

• A victim lost $91 million in a social engineering scam that purported to be the wallet support.
• The transfer and laundering of 733 BTC took place through Wasabi Wallet.
• The scam occurred exactly one year after the Genesis $243M theft.

The industry has once again been rocked by a massive crypto theft. On August 19, a Bitcoiner lost 783 BTC in a single transaction. The incident was a well-orchestrated social engineering scam, blockchain investigator ZachXBT stated. The scammer pretended to be a technical assistant of a hardware wallet provider. With the disguise, they were able to make the victim disclose his or her wallet credentials, which resulted in the immediate transfer of the funds.

How the Social Engineering Scam Was Executed

 By using impersonation, the attacker won the trust of the victim. They approached the victim in the guise of offering help. Consequently, the victim gave out her personal information in the belief that it was legitimate support.

Then immediately, 783 BTC, amounting to approximately $91.4 million, was transferred to a new wallet address. According to ZachXBT in their X post, the address was identified as “bc1qyxyk”. The funds were laundered shortly after the transaction took place. The exploiter channeled the funds through the Wasabi Wallet. This privacy tool enables obfuscation of transactions, which makes tracking a challenge.

On Aug 19, 2025 a victim fell for a social engineering scam and lost 783 BTC ($91M) after exchange and hardware wallet customer support were impersonated.

The stolen funds began to peel off and deposits to Wasabi were made by the threat actor.

Coincidentally this theft… pic.twitter.com/gglShNo2UC

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) August 21, 2025

According to ZachXBT, laundering commenced one day after the theft. The scam was executed at exactly 11:06 a.m. UTC, and by that moment, the attacker had complete control of all the assets.

Industry Reacts as Bitcoin Privacy Tools Get Misused

The incident has caused widespread concern. It reflects an increasingly common trend of scams in crypto through social engineering. Moreover, impersonation of trusted services to defraud users has been a fast-growing trend among fraudsters. In this case, even experienced users proved vulnerable.

Wasabi Wallet emerged as the core of laundering the stolen BTC. The tool, which is privacy-enabled, enabled the attacker to obfuscate the flow of funds. Though privacy is an essential aspect of crypto, malicious actors often use it to their advantage. This incident also coincided with a significant anniversary. It happened precisely one year after the $243 million Genesis creditor theft. The earlier incident resulted in a number of arrests in California, demonstrating the severity of these events.

In the thread, ZachXBT dismissed the Lazarus Group of North Korea. According to them, the attack did not match their patterns. Although the identity of the attacker remains unidentified, geopolitics is unlikely to be involved in it. Furthermore, ZachXBT encouraged users to exercise caution. They suggested that all unsolicited messages and calls be handled as scams.

Crypto Scams Continue Rising in 2025

This theft is just a part of the broader trend in 2025. Crypto scams and hacks have already seen users lose over $3.1 billion in the first half of the year. The most significant exploit to date is the $1.4 billion Bybit exchange exploit in February. In addition, July recorded 17 attacks amounting to $142 million, which was 27% more than June. However, it was a decline compared to July 2024, when the losses were estimated at $266 million.

#PeckShieldAlert In July 2025, ~17 major crypto hacks were recorded, resulting in total losses of $142M—a 27.2% increase (from $111.6M in June). Notably, the #GMX exploiter has returned ~$40.5M worth of cryptos, including 10K ETH and 10.5M $FRAX.#Top5 Hacks in July 2025:… pic.twitter.com/Y5VLUILq5Z

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) August 1, 2025

The danger is also emphasized by a separate Coinbase social engineering scam in June. A New York resident impersonated a Coinbase support agent by using fake seed phrases. His scam stole more than $4 million over the phone from unsuspecting users.