<img src="https://crypto.news/app/uploads/2023/12/crypto-news-Scammers-on-the-rise-option03.webp” />
Ripple CTO David Schwartz recently expressed confidence in being able to evade phishing scams on social media platform X.
Schwartz's comments were in response to a post by Cory Doctorow, an X user, who detailed how he was tricked into losing more than $8,000 by a scammer posing as his bank. In the incident, which took place during the Christmas holidays, the scammer requested Doctorow's banking details, resulting in a significant financial loss.
Schwartz expressed a mix of empathy and confidence in the face of these types of scams, stating that he believes in his ability to evade similar threats. However, he also acknowledged the universal risk of falling victim to such deceptive tactics, stating that no one is completely immune.
This conversation comes against a backdrop of recent security breaches affecting prominent figures within the cryptocurrency sector. Notably, Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, suffered a considerable loss. The hackers were allegedly able to access their accounts and make off with 213 million XRP tokens, worth around $112.5 million. Larsen was quick to specify that the breach affected his personal accounts rather than compromising Ripple's network or the XRP token infrastructure, alleviating concerns about the company's security measures.
The breach of Larsen's accounts prompted swift action from the cryptocurrency industry. Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, announced that the exchange had immediately frozen the exploiter's address to prevent further misuse of the stolen assets.
Larsen revealed that the stolen XRP was being shuffled across multiple exchanges, such as MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, and HitBTC. This hack maneuver is a perfect example of the lengths to which cybercriminals will go to launder stolen cryptocurrencies, making it difficult to track and recover.
In a broader context, these security incidents are also indicative of the sophisticated strategies employed by scammers to attack the cryptocurrency community. For example, an ai-generated “deepfake scam video” pose as Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse once tricked XRP users into sending their tokens to a fraudulent address under the illusion of doubling their investment.
Schwartz has also expressed his opinion on the threats posed by these types of scams, such as those targeting users of the OpenSea nft marketplace. He has shared screenshots of phishing emails sent to potential victims, highlighting the continued need for vigilance among users of digital asset platforms.
