That you, as an investor, have to be wary of hackers within the crypto space was already a given. Even last week, in an interview with CNBC, Google security lead, Mark Risher, cautioned crypto traders against boasting of their cryptocurrency portfolio on the internet. Criminals are paying attention and they might be coming for you! Last Friday, the news came out that a well-known gamer has been hacked. The total loss: $200,000 in Cryptocurrency.
Yiliang Peng, also known as “Doublelift“, is a professional gamer who is mostly known in the eSports space because of the game League of Legends. Last Friday, Peng told in a YouTube video that he has been robbed of $200,000 in cryptocurrency by hackers who staged a sim swap to gain access to Peng’s Coinbase account. Important to note, however, is that Peng did not hold the cryptocurrency, but the hackers used his money to buy the amount of crypto.
According to Peng, the hackers were able to pull off the fraud by first impersonating him while calling T-Mobile, in order to prompt the wireless provider to transfer Peng’s current cell phone number to a new sim card. This practice is commonly referred to as “sim swapping.” From that point, the hackers were able to gain access to Peng’s Coinbase account and two-factor authentication (2FA) codes, providing uninhibited access to his funds and bank account.
Peng recounts how he woke up to a notification on his phone from his bank account, alerting him that his account had become overdrawn. Peng, who has won over $174,000 in prizes throughout his career as of August 2018, says he doesn’t check his bank account often but was surprised to learn it was empty. The account had become overdrawn due to an excess of Coinbase transactions, wiping out his entire balance.
Peng notes in the video that this hacker was particularly skilled, in that he worked to alter the Peng’s inbox to redirect all Coinbase emails to a new address. This allowed the hackers to empty Peng’s account without raising any red flags.
Eventually, Peng’s account was overdrawn and the bank promptly alerted him to the issues, which prompted Peng to take action to determine the cause of the hack. Given that fraudulent withdrawals are covered by most banks, Peng will likely be able to recover his lost funds.
It is, therefore, advised not to share a lot of personal information online. These types of events are all too common still in the cryptocurrency industry, and this latest story emphasizes the need for publicly visible investors to take the proper security precautions at all times.
