In a shocking turn of events, a crypto trader known as Defizard has reported losing $15,000 in a sophisticated social engineering scam. The scam was carried out by fraudsters posing as representatives of ParaFi Capital, exploiting the trader’s trust in the investment firm’s reputation.
How the Scam Unfolded
It began with a direct message (DM) from a scammer impersonating a ParaFi Capital representative, allegedly looking for key opinion leaders (KOLs) to collaborate with major projects like Layer3, Polymarket, and Coin98 Wallet. All of the projects listed on ParaFi’s website seemed legitimate, and the scammer’s follower list included a fake version of the ParaFi team—Defizard’s first misstep.
My wallet got drained today. For the first time ever. 15k gone.
This was a high social engineering scam.
They used ParaFi Capital’s reputation.
How I got scammed 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/4vncwWtlGB
— defizard (@belizardd) October 1, 2024
The scammer requested that Defizard create a Slack account to join a collaborative workspace, which led to a “server error.” In response, the scammer suggested a fix that involved downloading a supposed “driver update” from FlaUI. The link, which appeared legitimate with a GitHub repository, was a trap that allowed the hackers to compromise Defizard’s system.
Wallets Drained
The next day, while attending university, Defizard noticed transactions being sent from his wallet, which had been drained of funds. His Phantom wallet was also compromised, leading him to believe that a virus had infected his Windows laptop. To mitigate further losses, Defizard purchased a new MacBook and moved his remaining funds to a hardware wallet, which kept the majority of his assets safe.
Lessons Learned
Despite losing $15,000, Defizard expressed gratitude towards the community members who supported him and highlighted the importance of using hardware wallets for securing funds. He also stressed the need for increased vigilance and awareness to avoid falling victim to increasingly sophisticated scams in the crypto space.
