A Bitcoin investor has fallen victim to a massive social engineering scheme, losing 783 BTC—valued at roughly $91 million—in a single transaction earlier this week.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT revealed the exploit in an X post on Thursday, noting that scammers tricked the victim by posing as support staff for a crypto exchange and a hardware wallet provider.
Blockchain data showed that the theft took place on Tuesday at 11:06 a.m. UTC, with the stolen funds first sent to a fresh Bitcoin wallet address before being funneled through Wasabi Wallet, a privacy-focused mixing service, in an effort to obscure their origins. According to ZachXBT, the attacker began laundering the assets the following day.
On Aug 19, 2025 a victim fell for a social engineering scam and lost 783 BTC ($91M) after exchange and hardware wallet customer support were impersonated.
The stolen funds began to peel off and deposits to Wasabi were made by the threat actor.
Coincidentally this theft… pic.twitter.com/gglShNo2UC
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) August 21, 2025
While the pseudonymous investigator declined to name suspects, he dismissed speculation linking the theft to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, one of the most notorious state-backed cybercrime outfits.
The incident comes almost exactly a year after the $243 million Genesis creditor hack and follows a string of high-profile phishing and wallet compromise cases that have plagued the crypto industry. In April, scammers impersonating Ledger mailed out fake security alerts urging customers to share their recovery phrases—a tactic designed to seize full control of wallets. In another alarming case earlier this year, an elderly U.S. investor reportedly lost more than $330 million worth of Bitcoin to a similar ruse.
Social engineering attacks—where criminals manipulate individuals into surrendering private keys or sensitive credentials—have surged in frequency, impacting both seasoned crypto investors and unsuspecting newcomers. Security firm CertiK estimated that over $2.1 billion has already been stolen in 2025 from crypto-related attacks, with the majority linked to phishing schemes and wallet compromises.
The largest heist of the year remains February’s $1.4 billion Bybit exploit, underscoring the reality that even top-tier, heavily audited exchanges are not immune.
As for preventing future incidents, ZachXBT urged caution, advising investors to “assume every call or email is a scam by default.”
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