Although theoretically, one can protect themselves from malicious actors in the crypto space by covering all bases and avoiding suspicious links, an investor shared a story of an incident that resulted in over $100,000 in losses despite his best efforts to safeguard his funds.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Matthias Mende, co-founder of the Dubai Blockchain Center and founder of the social verification project Bonuz, recounted his experience after losing his assets to a hacker.
Funds mysteriously drained
On June 25, Mende reported the loss of over $100,000 in crypto assets, as well as his Solana Name Service (SNS) domains, "mende.sol" and "bonuz.sol." He cautioned his followers about the numerous bad actors within the crypto space.
Mende said he had no idea how he had been compromised. The crypto investor claimed to have high-security measures and did not click any suspicious links. The crypto investor also highlighted that he does not keep his seed phrases digitally.
Mende explained that he participated in a Solana (SOL) token pre-sale and felt good about the investment. He told Cointelegraph that a few days later, his wallet was emptied. The hacker first sent out 320 SOL tokens, worth about $46,000.
However, Mende said that when the attacker realized other tokens were in the wallet, they sent back some SOL tokens to use as gas and then fully drained the wallet. Overall, the estimated value of the losses is at $100,000.
Mende said he was devastated when he realized his funds were gone. He explained:
“I thought that my heart would stop. I slapped myself in the face just to wake up because I thought maybe I was sleeping and it was a nightmare, but it was absolutely real.”
The investor said that if this happened to him in the past, he would’ve become depressed, but at the moment, he chose to focus on the present and just try to do what he could do.
Mende was astonished by what had occurred, considering his longstanding commitment to Web3 security. In 2023, he introduced Bonuz, a blockchain-based solution designed to combat social identity theft, as part of his social media identity verification project.
“I did not click any funny links. I did not connect the wallet with any funny stuff since I’m very secure. I used the Brave browser,” he added.
Victim urges hackers to return the funds
Mende stated that he had already reported the incident to Dubai’s cybercrime unit to ensure that the crypto exchanges can freeze the funds once they are transferred to their platforms.
He also mentioned that he is collaborating with forensic experts to track down the perpetrator, although their identity has not yet been discovered.
“We know exactly where the coins are, and the good thing is that if the cybercrime unit determines that the hackers are in the UAE, they will arrest them directly.”
The investor also urged the hackers to return the funds or face legal action. “This money will always be traced and will always get back to you. That’s blockchain. Please return the money within two days, and I will forgive you and not take any legal action,” Mende posted on X.
Despite the warning, the hacker did not respond to the post.