Several NFT-related Twitter accounts have raised awareness about individuals who are posing as bad actors and sending direct messages (DMs) claiming to have "access to their wallet." In many cases they included a video as a proof.
Since a new case of this particular scam was reported today, we have decided to provide further explanation about it, as it may not be familiar to many users.
Warning: Lack of awareness about this type of scam can leave users vulnerable to intimidation and extortion tactics by scammers.
This is a message from the scammer to the user, attempting to extort 7 ETH, which is currently valued at $11,412 USD. Fortunately, this user was familiar with this particular scam and chose not to engage with the scammer's attempt to extort cryptocurrency funds from him.
This type of scam uses a read-only mode of wallet, and they (scammers) cannot send transactions from a wallet in watch-only mode since they do not have your private key.
Here is an example of video where we demonstrated by using vitalik.eth wallet in read-only mode.
As the popularity of cryptocurrencies continues to grow, so does the number of scams related to them. It is crucial to be aware of different types of scams and to take measures to protect your digital assets. One of the most important things you can do is to safeguard the private keys of your crypto wallets, as these are the keys that provide access to your funds.
Make sure to follow our blog, as we always publish new articles related to web3 security & privacy.
