The victim was sedated and persuaded to grant access to his accounts. The scammers were able to steal money from an exchange, but not from the personal wallet.
A date on Tinder might be dangerous for those who carry out digital currencies. The number of crimes through Tinder has increased in a very worrying way. A man got drugged by a woman who took advantage of him to give her access to his cell phone, accounts, and passwords, and stole a portion of his bitcoin holdings.
The methodology of the criminal, who in her Tinder profile showed herself as a “cryptocurrency trader”, was known as the $ 5 wrench attack. This tactic goes about obtaining information from a person, and discreetly and persuasively, or through coercion, to achieve that this user provides complete access to their funds to steal them.
The victim was a Casa Hodl user. Casa Hodl is a company that offers security solutions for holders of bitcoin (BTC) and who related the events in a post on his blog. One of the tools that Casa provides is the multi-signature protocol, which needs the entry of two or more keys to confirm a trade. This move was precisely the key to avoiding more damage to its assets in crypto assets.
The Step-by-Step Scam
The first meeting of the victim and the criminal took place in a cafe, where the woman let the victim know that she had one bitcoin that she received from her parents. From there, the gathering moved to a walk in the open air and then headed to the man’s house to continue the meeting.
Between talks and music, the woman took advantage of a trip to her date’s bathroom to put scopolamine in his beverage, which is a drug also known in Latin America as “burundanga.” This drug causes drowsiness, confusion, and disorientation, according to medical sources.
From this state of cognitive weakness, it was easy for the woman to convince her victim to grant her access to his accounts. The man argues that the last action he remembers he did, was kissing his drinking partner. When the victim woke up the next day, he noticed that he had all his belongings and no loss of cash. The victim only noticed his cell phone had disappeared.
The woman managed to steal the funds from one of the man’s accounts on an exchange. However, most of the victim’s funds were saved because he previously set up multi-signature authentication on his wallet.
Upon awakening from his induced lethargy, the injured individual (whose country of origin is unknown) contacted Casa to set a blockage of his accounts, since his mobile phone also disappeared. In this way, thieves received a warning from making other attempts to access the affected account and make extra savings.
Measures to Prevent Bitcoin Theft, And Scams
Crimes with cryptocurrencies are becoming more and more common activities nowadays, the same as with any fiat currency in the world. Users should always research, doubt the information, and take care of private keys. These steps would help users avoid going through this scam.
It is vital not to leave the funds in only one trading platform. These platforms are always the target of hackers or even their security flaws.
By: Jenson Nuñez
